The Boy Next Door
by bambu1101
Summary: One day, Rache Berry, an aspiring star on Broadway, found her neighbor unconscious on the floor from a near fatal attack. She had to take care of the old lady's Jack Russell Terrier, Rusty but didn't enough time to do so. She managed to get in touch with Mrs. Weston's only living relative, her nephew to leave the dog to him. What Rachel didn't knew was he was not him. AU Finchel
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: As you can see the title, some elements of the book will be present in this story. I hope you will enjoy the story!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.**

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**Chapter 1 - August 2013**

Rachel Berry was one to live a well‐regulated life; woke up at 6 am sharp, had a glass of water at normal temperature (which was prepared on the night table the night before she went to bed, of course), made the bed at 6:02, changed into workout clothes and did yoga until 6:35, made/had breakfast and washed dishes from 6:37 to 7:20, visited her next door at 7:25 to ask if she could do something for the day (mostly to walk the neighbor's dog from 7:30 to 7:55), took a shower and prepared for work from 8:00 to 8:55, and then went to her rehearsal at 9 am sharp.

Rachel moved to New York from a small town in Ohio after high school graduation. She lived in a dorm in the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts (NYADA) for a while but she had no luck with a roommate who sexiled her frequently. She appealed to her parents (two gay dads) for moving out and living alone outside of the campus. After apartment hunt for a month, she found this nice apartment building in Chelsea area, which rent was very expensive for a college student but her dads agreed on financial help until graduation since she was on a full scholarship.

NYADA was all about competition. Well, she _was_ competitive. So nobody was surprised that she barely got friends in NYADA. But she had Mrs. Weston, who lived next door to her. She had been Rachel's closest friend in NY since she moved to the apartment. The seventy something year old widow lived with a dog and two cats. She was very vigorous for her age. That had been however until she broke her left leg skiing last month. Mrs. Weston used to be up at 6 am (just like Rachel) to walk her dog and Rachel got to dog sit for her since then. Her rehearsals (yes, she got a role of the off-Broadway production 'Avenue Q' just after her NYADA graduation and she didn't need her dads' financial support any more!) started at 10 am, so it was no big deal to walk her dog in the morning, considering Mrs. Weston had been so nice to her.

Such being the case, Rachel stepped out of her threshold and locked her door before knocking on Mrs. Weston's door on the dot of 7:25 as usual. What was not usual was that there was no answer to the knock and Rusty, Mrs. Weston's Jack Russell Terrier, was barking loudly. Rachel tilted her head, wondering if Mrs. Weston failed to inform her of the doctor appointment or something. After repeated knocks, Mrs. Weston still did not come to door and Rusty barked with vigor more and more.

Rachel cautiously tried handle to Mrs. Weston's door, which was unlocked. She frowned. She was startled as she let herself inside since Rusty delightfully attacked her. "Hey, Rusty." Rachel bent down to pet him and allowed him to lick her face. "Where's Mrs. Weston?" Rusty barked once and headed towards the living room. She widened her eyes as she followed the dog and entered the room.

_Oh no, no, no, no, no, no._

Mrs. Weston was facedown on her living room carpet!

Rachel's heart rate went up and up and up. What was she supposed to do? _Okay, Rachel, don't panic. First, you have to make sure whether she's dead or not._ Rachel took a deep breath and stepped closer to the old lady's body before bending down and touching Mrs. Weston's wrist to feel her pulse. Thank God, she had a pulse and still was breathing. Relieved, she immediately pulled out her cell phone out of her pocket to call 911.

Seven minutes later, the cops came with the ambulance. More fifteen minutes later, they made their routine inquiry to Rachel. They said that it looked as if Mrs. Weston had been struck from behind. She wanted to go with Mrs. Weston in the ambulance, she really did. But her dog needed to go out. So she excused herself to the cops and took the Jack Russell Terrier out after finished their inquiry.

When she returned to Mrs. Weston's apartment and fed Rusty and two British Shorthair cats, Napoléon and Ms. Bonaparte, the cops were checking Mrs. Weston's door for signs of forced entry and said there were none. It meant that Mrs. Weston probably knew her attacker, she probably let him (or her?) in of her own volition. Even more oddly, there was $358 in cash in her purse and her jewelry in her drawer that had been left untouched.

Rachel glanced at her watch. It was almost 8:40. She had to take a shower to go to her rehearsal. But before going the rehearsal, she needed to see Mrs. Weston because Mrs. Weston was her friend. After she asked the cops which hospital Mrs. Weston would be admitted, she called Ms. Sue Sylvester the producer to ask if she could have the day off. Sue didn't like it at all. So she called Mr. Schuester, the director of the show, to explain Mrs. Weston's and her situation and asked him to persuade Sue. Luckly Mr. Schue was a very kind man and he said that she could leave it to him and take care of her old neighbor.

When Rachel finally went to the hospital, she was informed that Mrs. Weston was in surgery; she needed to be relieved the pressure on her brain from a giant blood clot that had formed beneath her skull. While Rachel was sitting in the waiting room, the cops came to ask her if she happened to know Mrs. Weston's relatives or friends since they couldn't get in touch with anybody from her acquaintances. She recalled for a while and answered she had seen her nephew Brody (she remembered that Mrs. Weston had mentioned her nephew's first name and his job – a photographer or something - a couple of times) visit his aunt a few times for these four years but didn't know where he lived or what his phone number was, let alone she never had exchanged words with him.

Ten hours later, doctors emerged from the operating room and told her that it had only been partially successful, Mrs. Weston was in a coma and she might never come out of it. Which meant that someone had to be stuck taking care of Rusty, Napoléon and Ms. Bonaparte, which meant that someone was her since Mrs. Weston's nephew was nowhere to be found, at least right now.

Rachel sighed. She stood up from the hospital bench in the waiting room and stretched out her legs. Then she walked out of the hospital to go home, determined to take care of the poor old lady's pets.

* * *

When she finally got to her apartment, she remembered that she hadn't checked her cell phone after she called Mr. Schue. She pulled out the phone from her pocket and swiped to unlock it. There were five texts from her co-stars (Tina, Santana and Jesse) and three missed calls (all from Jesse). She scrolled the screen to read the texts.

**I heard you took the day off from Mr. Schue. Was the old lady next to your apartment murdered? Sue's bitching today because of your absence. BTW, did something happen last night between you and Jesse? God, he was playing King Crimson's 'Starless' over and over in his green room during the lunch break. It was so depressing! This too is why Sue's bitching all day. Are you coming to the rehearsal tomorrow? Call me. – Tina**

Tina got to be one of her best friends since they both got parts of the show. Rachel got a part of Kate Monster, Tina a part of Christmas Eve.

**You probably didn't notice me but I was at the bar last night as well. You really have excellent arm, Yentl. That was quite a show. I was entertained. That means you and Jesse broke up? Because I never thought you two were right for each other. Good for you. – Santana**

Rachel closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to hide her smile. Santana, who was a role of Lucy, always called her names and had a kind of sharp tongue. But beneath her mask, she cared about people. Rachel liked that about her, so they got to get along in the course of the rehearsals.

**Rachel, where are you? It's almost 21:00. Anyways, I have to go. Mike's waiting for me at his restaurant. Call me when you're home. Don't mind what time it is. – Tina**

Mike was Tina's fiancé and an excellent chef. Rachel always was jealous of their relationship. They were an epic.

**Why didn't you pick up your phone? Are you going to be completely childish about this? Can't we sit down and discuss this like adults? - Jesse**

**This is so unlike you, Rachel. As I mentioned yesterday, the night with Claudia meant nothing to me, I swear. God, I should've never told you. I thought you were more mature. – Jesse**

Rachel rolled her eyes. Jesse and she met at the end of her senior year in NYADA. Jesse was a graduate and an assistant teacher in NYADA at that time. They were very alike and soon hit it off. He too auditioned 'Avenue Q' and got a part of Princeton. She thought that she might find the one at first. Because of that, she took their relationship slow and waited to have sexual intercourse with him until she was ready (she was a twenty one virgin, thank you very much).

Last night after the rehearsal, Jesse took her to a bar near to the theater to tell her something important. He told her that he felt they had to reach the next level of intimacy. It had been six months since they started dating and it was not like she didn't feel the same way. She just needed a little more time to be sure that she was ready. So when she was about to tell him about it, he dropped the bomb.

"_I feel I have to make a clean breast in order for us to reach the next level." Jesse cleared his throat, casting down his eyes. "I've been wracked with guilt since it happened."_

_Rachel frowned her brows. "What are you talking about? Since _what_ happened?"_

"_Remember I auditioned a TV commercial last March?" He checked her face carefully._

_Rachel remembered the day. After finished the audition, Jesse called her to cancel the dinner date with her since he had to have a dinner with the producer and the other casts for the commercial that night._

_Jesse saw her nodding as he continued. "Um, there was no dinner with the producer and the other casts."_

_Confused, Rachel asked. "Then what did you do that night?"_

_Jesse took a deep breath before confessing. "Actually I went to a dinner… with one of the casts."_

"_With whom?" Rachel didn't like where this conversation was going to._

"_Claudia Nylund."_

_Rachel widened her eyes. "_The_ Claudia Nylund? The perfect blonde creature of a model who is on every cover of the magazines in this planet?" She shut her eyes and took a deep breath to compose herself. But honestly, she felt sad in spite of feeling anger. She knew she was not beautiful. Claudia Nylund was the most beautiful woman in the world and every single man, whether they were taken or not, would jump at the opportunity to have a dinner with her. If she could have an opportunity to sit at the same table alone with Taylor Lautner, she definitely would seize the chance._

_She sighed. "Well, I don't like that you lied to me but it's understandable, you know, to jump at the opportunity to go to a dinner with the most beautiful woman in the world who every man admires."_

"_I'm not finished." Jesse sifted on the booth uncomfortably. "I-I slept with her that night." He blurted out. Rachel gasped and dropped her mouth open. Jesse immediately grabbed her hand on the table and pleaded. "None if it meant anything, Rachel. Please believe me. I love you, Rachel, please, please forgive me."_

_Rachel looked at his hand on hers for a while before turning her head towards her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend."I appreciate your honesty, but how can I trust you've never cheated on me with any other women?" She was surprised at how composed she was. "I'm sorry, I can't do this anymore. We're done."_

_When she stood up from the high chair and forcefully brushed his hand away, she lost a balance and almost fell on the floor. Jesse tried to re-grab her left hand as her right hand holding her porch swung in the air which accidentally hit his face _hard_. He staggered by the impact on his face before letting go his hold of her hand. Rachel escaped narrowly from falling on the floor. She stood up straight and smoothed her blouse._

"_I hope we'll act professionally at the rehearsals." Rachel tucked a pile of her hair behind her ear. "Goodbye, Jesse." With that she turned on her heel and stormed out of the bar._

Rachel felt her blood boiling remembering the last night event. She thought Jesse had waited for her patiently since he knew she was a virgin and she appreciated it. She was wrong. He was as same as the other guys. She couldn't believe she wasted six months of her life on him.

"Hello? Earth to Rachel?" Tina called out loud on the other end of the line.

"Huh?"

"It could've been worse, you know. He did you a favor, Rachel." Tina reasoned plausibly. "Did you really picture a future for the two of you? I mean, he loves King Crimson or Pink Floyd! Progressive Rock!"

"He loves showing off how profound his musical knowledge is." Rachel analyzed matter-of-factly.

"He really is argumentative by nature." Tina snorted. "Well, I gotta go. Mike's waiting."

In her bedroom, Rachel added in mind. "Okay, goodnight, Tina." She heard Tina saying goodnight to her before hanging up. She put her phone on the night table and set the alarm to go off at 6 am as usual before laying down on her bed, thinking how Mrs. Weston used to take care of Rusty day and night.

* * *

Rachel was exhausted. Not because of the rehearsal but because of Rusty. Jack Russell Terrier needed to be received enough exercise. Sure, she got to walk Rusty since Mrs. Weston broke her leg, but Mrs. Weston had never mentioned how much exercise the dog needed. Maybe the old lady had hesitated to tell her exactly what the dog needed when she walked the dog, not imposing excessive burdens on her. She finally understood why Mrs. Weston was so vigorous (she used to go to the gym three times a week for her age!).

Now Rachel had to walk Rusty to the dog park and gave him enough exercise for an hour in the morning, otherwise Mrs. Weston's furniture would be replaced. Which meant she needed to be up at 5 am. Her rehearsal usually was from 10 am to 8 pm and sometimes to 10 pm. She loved Rusty but she needed to be rest. So what else could she do?

"You can come over to have a dinner with us tomorrow night, can't you?" Tina asked at the lunch break. They walked into a restaurant close to the theater.

"I don't know. I want to see how Mrs. Weston is going after the rehearsal." Rachel felt bad for the old lady. "Besides, who can dog sit at night? He needs to go out at night too." She rolled her eyes as a waiter with a Jefrow winked at her.

"Rachel…" Tina sighed. She ordered her food to the creepy waiter before handing out the menu and looking at Rachel, determined to scold. "Didn't you say Mrs. Weston's worth six or seven million at least, did you? Her husband was Alfred Weston, the former Weston Food CEO, right? I think some alternative arrangements for the woman's pets could be made with her money. You don't have to take care of everything for the old woman. Besides, she has to have some relatives."

"It's easy for you to say let someone else handle Rusty." Rachel defended. "Her nephew, Brody, is her only living relative, but not even the cops have been able to find him to tell him what happened to her." Rachel sighed. "I know he lives somewhere in the city and he's some photographer working for a sports magazine or something, according to Mrs. Weston."

Rachel didn't add that she really got to be attached to the dog despite her exhaustion. He was so adorable. And if she could find her nephew, she might be able to walk the dog with him? She had seen him enter Mrs. Weston's apartment a few times, just the back view from afar. Despite the fact that Brody was a ladies' man (according to Mrs. Weston), she was sure that he was attractive because of that. And maybe he was nice since he visited his aunt, even though there were a few times for four years.

Too absorbed in her reverie (and Jesse forgotten completely), Rachel failed to hear the sound of some Latina's high heels.

"Brody Weston? I've heard his name somewhere…" Santana stopped at Rachel's table, tapping her forefinger on her lips. "Yeah, right. He had a _stunning_ self-portrait on display in the Whitney for the Biennial, in which he was sans apparel. If you ask me, the man's a photographic genius." She smirked, sitting on the chair next to Rachel, beckoning the creepy waiter to take her order. "Though that may not be where his true talent lies, judging by that photo, if you get my drift."

Tina spouted out her water before looking up at her co-star in horror.

Santana rolled her eyes. "Like you've never seen your sweetheart's true talent." She handed out the menu to the guy with a Jefrow. "I'll have a crab cake BLT sandwich and a bottle of Gerolsteiner."

"Mike would never prostitute himself for photo shoots." Tina huffed as she wiped her mouth and the table.

"Did he have his own nude picture on display in the Whitney?" Rachel repeated, wrinkling her nose with distaste.

"To me, for some reason, he's a way more douchebag than Jesse." Santana pulled out her cell phone out of her bag and tapping the screen frantically. "I know some working at Sports Illustrated. I'm sure they know how you can be reached at him." She put her cell phone on the table and broached the bar incident between Jesse and Rachel. "Speaking of the douchebag…"

"I don't want to talk about it, Santana." Rachel folded her arms across her chest. "We're done."

"I'm not sure he agrees with you." Tina nodded towards the entrance of the restaurant.

Rachel and Santana turned their heads to the direction Tina had just indicated. Jesse, who was holding a bunch of flowers in his hands, roved to look for the table where Rachel should be sitting.

"Oh, God." Embarrassed, Rachel buried her face in her hands, trying to hide herself not to be into his sight.

"Why did he know where we would eat?" Tina whispered, leaning forward.

"I assume he tracked you down, Rachel." Santana laughed aloud in amusement, which ended up Rachel's demeanor in vain.

Jesse made a beeline for Rachel and handed out the bouquet. "I know I made a mistake. Please, don't break my heart."

Rachel rolled her eyes, refusing to take the bouquet. "I didn't break your heart. You did mine." She ignored tons of eyes in the restaurant. She could see out of the corner of her eye Tina and Santana trying to suppress their laugh but failing miserably.

"I-I'm gonna put these down. And this," Jesse put the flowers on Rachel's lap without permission before pulling an envelope out of his pocket and thrust it into Rachel's hand. "Please read this." With that he turned around and walked out of the restaurant.

"How embarrassing." Rachel said, examining the envelope.

Santana snatched the envelope before Rachel opened it. "Well, well, well…" She flared her nostrils in laughter as she read a sheet of paper inside the envelope. "It's Robert Frost's 'Mending Wall'. What does he want to say with this?" She snorted, handing out it to Rachel.

"'Good fences make good neighbors'… I got it. He wants to say you make him better, Rachel." Tina misunderstood.

Rachel shrugged. "Well, either way, completely off base."

"Yeah, what a pretentious intellectual." Santana agreed. When she was about to continue speaking, her cell phone went off. She grabbed it to read a text. "Oh, Rachel. Good news. No one seems to have Brody's number, but I've got an email address. I'll send it to your phone."

Tina clapped her hands. "Now you can leave the dog and the cats to him and come over to my place tomorrow night."

"I guess." Rachel grabbed the bouquet before standing up. "Alright, time's up. Let's go back to the theater."

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**Please review :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.**

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**Chapter 2 – August 2013**

Finn Hudson _loved_ his job. He knew that there were not so many who chose to be a public school teacher because its salary was low. He however couldn't help but feeling so lucky that he got a job with this elementary school in Greenwich Village. The school where he officially was working as a music teacher (it had been two years now) was the same school as he had participated in Student Teaching at. When he met the principal Shannon Beiste for the first time, he thought… correction, he _knew_ that this school was his destiny. Aside from providing a general music curriculum, he was volunteering to help the after school rock band program on Wednesdays and YMCA sport program (flag football) on Mondays. Some people outside of his family irresponsibly said that he should have or could have taken over his family business instead of low salary job. Screw that. His passion for music and football, his love for kids, plus, long long summer holidays – teacher's perks! What more could he ask for (don't remind him that he hadn't met the one yet)?

In the middle of August, Finn returned to his tiny studio in West Village (where he moved to when he was sophomore in NYU and his drum set had a strong presence) after executed Mississippi River two-week road trip with his friends. During the trip, they decided that no electronic devices allowed (okay, cell phone did allow to carry just in case but no allowed to be attached). So he booted up his computer while waiting for a dinner which his step brother was bringing with him. Most of them were crap like advertising mails. A few from the NYC department education, PDFs of the next academic calendar and teacher's conference schedule attached. And an email from… Brody Weston?

Finn widened his eyes, surprised. Brody too went to NYU (Finn in NYU Steinhardt, Brody in Tisch School of the Arts). Had it been, what, five or six years since they last exchanged words in freshman, sophomore or something between? But it didn't mean that they were friends at that time. Brody had been just his roommate until Finn moved out of the dorm. He started reading the email from Brody, already knowing as to why Brody thought to get a hold of him.

"I knew it!" Finn spat out in disgust, pointing his forefinger to the screen as if Brody was there in front of him. "I knew it was coming!"

"Knew _what_ was coming?"

Finn was too preoccupied with recalling what happened to him in sophomore year, he didn't notice delicious smell had invaded in his apartment. He snapped out and turned his head to the direction where his step brother was standing. He glanced at his face soon before his eyes rocked on the takeout containers in his hands. Finn's stomach growled.

"Chinese?" Finn asked with twinkling eyes, almost drooling from his mouth as he stood up and made his way over to Kurt.

"Yes they are. And you knew what was coming?" Kurt demanded as he set the table neatly.

"Brody Weston." Finn murmured as he grabbed his chopsticks to already ready to eat his dinner. "Demanding payback for a favor he did me out sophomore year in college."

Kurt arched his eyebrows in amusement. "What did you do?"

"I did nothing! Why do you think, like, I did something wrong?" Finn defended, his mouth full with his food.

"Ew." Kurt wrinkled his nose with distaste. "Don't speak with your mouth full, Finn." He admonished. "_You_ said he did you a favor."

Finn suddenly felt having the jitters. He didn't tell anybody what happened in his sophomore year which was one of the reasons he decided to move out of the dorm. He would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy college dorm parties. He actually did. He had never been in a serious relationship since his last girlfriend from high school cheated on him with one of his best friends who knocked her up. He got into the no-dating-but-enjoying-physical- gratification life style because of his ex-girlfriend's and his best friend's betrayal. It was difficult for him to trust women again. Or you could say that it was more difficult to get out of that kind of life style since most of college girls who flirted with him didn't mind his having a one night stand with them, or worse, some of them were just gold diggers.

Anyway.

One night some juniors threw a party at his dorm, the people who came to the dorm got too much excited and a small fire broke out somehow and somewhere in the dorm. A fire alarm screeched loud and soon the cops and the firefighters rushed to the dorm. The cops took the opportunity and began to search every room in the doom. When two of them came into his dorm room, complete drunk Finn sat on his bed grinning like an idiot at a girl who was about to write her number on his forehead. The cops found out some amount of grass pouched in a small plastic bag under Finn's bed and were full of arresting him despite he claimed it was not his. When he almost gave up to revolt against authority, Brody, who somehow felt sorry for Finn, cut in ensuring the grass was not Finn's and he saw some dude brought it in their room. The cops reluctantly left their room only with the plastic bag, however, they bothered him at every opportunity around the campus since then. He was so sick of false charges and decided to move out of the doom, promising himself to stay away from dorm parties.

"I swear to God, it was not mine at all!" Finn whined.

"He helped you out of trouble." Kurt pointed out not knowing the true story. Little did Finn and Kurt know, Brody had kicked the plastic bag into underneath Finn's bed just before the cops came into their dorm room.

"Well, yeah." Finn sighed in defeated. "But it was about six years ago. Besides, how many times do you think I got kicked out of my room in order for him to bang chicks? More than enough I did him." He mocked as he walked over to the kitchen to throw out his empty container into the garbage can.

"Please don't implant the image of your sex life into my head, thank you very much." Kurt held up his hand in the air. "What exactly does he want you to do?"

"To pretend to be Brody Weston." Finn muttered frustrated.

Kurt frowned. "What do you mean? Pretending to be him?"

Finn took another beer out of the fridge for himself and grabbed a glass and a bottle of red wine from the cabinet for Kurt. "He commanded me to take care of his aunt Hilda's dog and cats for two weeks or so instead of him because some psycho conked her on the head and fled, not my words but his."

Kurt grabbed the bottle and poured into the glass. "Why do you have to impersonate him just to take care of his aunt's pets? Why can't he do that for himself to begin with?"

Finn blew out a breath shaking his head. "He made an excuse that he was in Hawaii and busy with banging a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model or something."

"How tender hearted." Kurt said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Tell me about it." Finn snorted. "His aunt's in a coma, Kurt, comatose from a brutal assault. I can't believe him. He doesn't even care enough to cut short his vacation." He continued. "And his aunt neighbor is the one who is now taking care of her pets and has her apartment key."

"You should've been under the false accusation." Kurt commiserated.

"Yeah." Finn dropped his shoulders.

"I don't know why but I have such a bad feeling about it." Kurt warned.

"But I guess it could be worse, you know, _a lot_ worse." Finn shrugged. "I mean, walking an old lady's dog, how bad can that be?"

"Well, good luck." Kurt stood up and walked over to the kitchen to wash dishes. "Oh, Quinn says to tell you she's got the perfect girl for you. Beth's dressage instructor, twenty tree, size 4, blonde, blue-eyed."

Finn frowned. "Not interested. Besides, I can't stand dressage. There's something unnatural about making a hose dance." He collected the empty bottles on the table and put them on the kitchen counter.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "The horses don't dance in dressage, my moron of a brother."

* * *

_To: Finn Hudson_

_From: Brody Weston_

_Subject: Operation Rusty_

_Alright. I let the neighbor know to expect you tonight for the key pickup. She's got my aunt's spare. I don't understand why Aunt Hilda never gave me a key but her. That fire in her last apartment was not my fault!_

_Anyway, listen, you're supposed to be me, which means that you have to try to dress with a little… STYLE._

_I know your family's got gobs of money but you're downplaying the trillions you're worth. I can understand this whole thing you're doing, getting a real job instead of the cushy family one your step father offered._

_If you want to pretend like you're only making thirty or forty grand a year, I'm totally fine with it. But as long as you're being me, could you PLEASE not dress like a tacky college student? I'm begging you: No Journey T-shirts. And those worn sneakers you always wear? Would you buy a pair of tassel? And for the love of God, invest in some sumptuous leather jacket. I know you have the precious millions in that trust fund your grandfather left you._

_That's all I ask. Just try to look good when you're imitating me. I have a reputation to uphold._

_Brody_

_P.S.: The neighbor left a number, but I lost it. Her email's (I don't know it's her pc or phone) rachelberryXXXXXXXXXXX _

Finn rolled his eyes as he read another email from Brody. He had some leather jackets, thank you very much. And how was he supposed to email her? She was going to know I was not Brody when she read his address. He sighed, reluctantly starting applying for a psuedo email account.

* * *

It's been about a week and a half since Rachel first sent an email to Brody. He replied to her the next day saying he had to be in somewhere in Africa photographing little starving kids for the Save the Children fund and maybe he could come home to take care of his aunt's pets in a week after or so.

While she waited for him another reply as to exactly when he could return to NY (she recieved the email last night), she got other information of him (like who he was like). He was always on the road. Last month in Bali, last week in Cabo… but this week he was in Africa for the Save the Children fund! He however seemed to be taking the role of playboy artiste to brand new heights, according to Santana.

"As far as I know, Brody would _never_ go to Africa." Santana cut in, frowning. "You must be confusing him with someone else."

"No, I'm not confusing." Rachel huffed, picking up her bag from the floor. "_He_ said so. If you like, I can forward his email."

"I don't mean to sound cold, but whether starving children or not, the man has to take some responsibility." Tina stuffed her towel into her bag after finished their rehearsal. "I mean, if your only living relative is in a coma, you come home, starving kids or no." She shook her head. "When's he getting here anyway?"

As if on cue, Rachel's phone buzzed in her bag. She took it out of the bag and read an incoming text. "Oh, it's him! He said he's just arrived at the airport and could come over to my apartment tonight at nine or so." She lightened up before glancing at her watch. It was 20:03. "I have to go." She grabbed her bag, fully ready for going home as soon as possible.

"Rachel, are you going to be able to make the pool party this weekend with me?" Tina called out to Rachel's back. "Mike's threatening to break off the engagement if I don't go!"

"Bye, guys." Rachel cried over her shoulder before disappearing in her green room.

* * *

Finn pulled out of his cell phone, thinking it would be a text from the neighbor of the poor old woman.

**Thank you for texting me as soon as you landed. I hope it was a safe flight. I've just finished my rehearsal and will be home at least in an hour. So I would appreciate it if you could come over to my apartment at 21:30. Thank you again. – Rachel***

Finn smiled. Rachel. It was a pretty name. And she seemed nice although Brody complained she was kind of annoying. He was about to text her back telling he would be there at the time she suggested.

Wait.

Her _rehearsal_?

What kind of rehearsal? Was she some musician or actress? Kurt and Quinn were working in the fashion industry and Kurt had worked for some Broadway production a few times before. What if she knew Kurt or Quinn? It meant she might know him! Why didn't Brody say anything about his aunt's neighbor's job!? If she did, the cover would be totally blown!

"Whoa. The fuck that tsk?" Puck raised his eyebrow, looking at his best friend. "Some chick's bugging you?"

"No. If some girl bugs me, I won't tut-tut. I would get some lecture from my mom, or worse, Kurt." Finn sipped his beer on the couch in Puck's household.

"Then what?" Puck sifted his eyes from Finn to TV, which a Mets' game was on. "About what you've told a few minutes before? The douche?"

"Kinda." Finn rubbed his face with a hand, annoyed with Brody. "He failed to inform me of the neighbor's job."

"What does she do?" Puck asked.

"I don't know. She texted me that she had just finished her rehearsal." Finn answered, fidgeting.

"Oh, I get it. You're daunted what if she finds you're not Brody." Puck smirked. "So what? Who the hell cares if you're him or not anyway?" He looked up and down at Finn. "You're not wearing exactly what the douche demanded and now you've got cold feet?"

"I gotta go." Finn stood up from the couch, ignoring his best friend's statement.

"Hey, Q wants to know if you're still coming for dinner on Sunday like we planned." Puck stopped Finn from leaving.

"I don't know, man." Finn put his shoes on. "I heard from Kurt that Quinn wanted to set me up on a blind date or something, but I'm not interested." He made his way over the front door.

"Then that's fine with me. I would bang some random hot chicks." Puck nodded to himself.

"I heard that!" Quinn yelled at her husband from the kitchen.

"I love you too, baby!" Puck yelled back.

Finn shook his head, putting his hand on the door knob. "Bye guys." With that he let himself out of the apartment, determined to pretend to be Brody (with his – Finn's - usual attire).

* * *

**Please review :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and the review!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.**

* * *

**Chapter 3 - August 2013**

Usually though Rachel took a walk or subway from her apartment to the theater, she decided to hail a cab tonight. She needed to take a shower before meeting Mrs. Weston's nephew since she felt sweaty from the rehearsal. Etiquette had it that you cleaned up to welcome people, right? So she rushed out of the theater in her yoga leggings and tight fit tank top which she had happened to wear at the rehearsal for the day.

Having finished showering, Rachel started getting distressed by the thoughts as to what to wear and whether she should be make-up on or not. After all the agonizing, she realized that it was not a date or something; which caused herself embarrassment and a blush came over her face. She shook her head before deciding to wear a simple yellow sundress and light make-up on, her hair in a ponytail.

Rachel looked at the clock on the wall, remembering she hadn't eaten anything since lunch. She was wont not to put something in her stomach to say the least of five hours before going to bed and to have a light meal at early evening breaks in her green room at the theater. She made her way over to the kitchen to look for some food in the refrigerator. It was already ten minutes past nine. She took some vegetables out of the fridge to make a salad. She grabbed her apron and threw the vegetables in water before beginning to chop them.

Just at that time finished preparing her salad, Rachel heard the buzzer. She took her apron off in a rush, soothed her dress, checked herself in a mirror, and finally got the door. And without checking who buzzed through a peephole, she opened the door.

She saw a Journey T-shirt.

* * *

He saw an angel.

He meant, he thought an angel was standing there when the door opened. Legs for miles, modestly peeked cleavage, toned skin exposed around shoulders, soft curled brunette hanging in a ponytail, rosy-color on high cheekbones, definitely kissable full lips, twinkle in big brown eyes and… smell like a heaven. She seemed to be surrounded by shining something (he didn't know how to describe).

He looked down at himself momentarily and mentally cursed at himself. He was too self-conscious about his attire – he should've worn a bit nicer clothes, but no tassels, _never_ – to hear his angel's calling supposed-to-be-for-a-while his name.

"Mr. Weston? Brody?"

Finn snapped out. "I-I'm sorry. H-hi." He stammered, mentally cursing at himself again. He cleared his throat. "Nice to finally meet you. Rachel, right?" He offered his hand to shake.

Rachel took his hand, nodding. "You too, Brody."

Finn stared at their hands for a moment. Her tiny hand perfectly fit in his large hand. Lopsided smile appeared on his lips.

"Um…"

Finn looked up at her as she was about say something. He followed her gaze with his eyes and realized that he still held her hand and she too stared at their hands biting her lower lip. Finn tore his hand away as if it had been touched on a hot stove. "S-sorry." He mentally cursed at himself _again_.

"Would you like to come in? I'm going to bring your aunt's spare." Rachel stepped aside to let him in.

"Sure." Finn entered and followed her into the living room, his eyes glued on her perfect round ass.

Rachel turned around and gestured to the sofa for him. "Please wait here for a second."

Finn immediately looked away the spot where he had stared at. He rubbed the back of his neck and nodded at her beaming face. And he sat on the sofa and began scanning over the room. White daisies in a vase on the table, the small amount of vinyl collection on the storage rack, and some flamed posters on the maize yellow colored wall; Wicked, Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, and some of decorated with brochures titled 'Playbill.' "It's a really nice apartment." He called out at the direction where Rachel made her way to.

Rachel pulled the spare key out of the hallway cabinet before returned to the living room holding the spare in her hand. "Thank you. But your aunt's is nicer, you know, more spacious."

"Oh, really?" The unconscious words came out of Finn's mouth, still looking over Rachel's apartment.

Rachel frowned, wondering if he forgot what his aunt's apartment was like. She decided that he did forget since he had barely visited his aunt remembering it had been about two years since she last saw his back view. "Would you like something to drink? Or do you want to check Rusty first? I think we should walk him because he needs to go out at night too. I can fill in on how to take care of him and the cats while walking. O-or I can fill in here or your aunt's apartment and you walk him later, of course."

He stared at her while she rambled. He chuckled a little. How adorable she was. Of course he wanted to walk the dog with her. "If you don't mind, I want to walk the dog with you." He smiled, trying to hide his eagerness. _Well done, Hudson. Be cool, be smooth._ He nodded at himself.

"Okay. Shall we?"

* * *

Brody (Finn) and Rachel decided to walk the Jack Russell Terrier to Madison Square Park.

Rachel giggled as she saw Brody being baffled to use Flexi dog leash. She took the leash from him to show how to use it. "Press the brake button down to stay locked, press it down and push it forward to lock the brake, and draw back to release the brake lock."

"O-okay, thanks." Embarrassed, Brody blushed.

"I should've changed it for the normal one." Rachel said apologetically, handing the leash back to Brody. She cleared her throat. "I mostly walk him to Jemmy's Dog Run in Madison Square Park and sometimes Union Square Dog Run to give him exercise." Then she explained how many times and hours a day Rusty needed to be received exercise, how she gave him exercise, what time dog run opened/closed.

By the time she almost filled in on how to take care of Rusty, they got to the dog run in Madison Square Park.

"Wow, he needs exercise that much?" Brody asked surprised. "I don't see how a frail old woman can walk such a mischievous dog on a regular basis."

Rachel tilted her head to one side, wondering if his aunt never told him about her daily life. "Yeah." She nodded, releasing Rusty from the leash and looked around the place to assure that the dog wouldn't cause trouble for other dogs before pulling out a Frisbee out of her bag and throwing it for him. "I didn't know that at first." Rachel continued not taking her eyes off from Rusty. "I'd merely walked him on-leash for a month until Mrs. Weston got admitted in the hospital. She never mentioned Jack Russell Terrier needs to be received enough exercise."

Brody could see that Rusty jumped high to catch a Frisbee with his mouth before running back to them.

"It's your turn." Rachel took a Frisbee from Rusty's mouth and handed it out to Brody.

Brody followed her instruction. "So, you'd taken care of him before she was attacked?" Brody wondered if the real Brody told him about it through his emails, watching in amusement the dog delightfully running towards Frisbee to catch. "Was she being sick or something?"

"You didn't know?" Rachel was a bit surprised, but soon decided that maybe Mrs. Weston didn't tell her nephew about her injury. "She broke her leg summer skiing in the beginning of July."

"Oh." Brody felt bad for Mrs. Weston and Rachel. "I'm sorry… I mean, I'm sorry for what happened to my aunt. You must've been in trouble too." He petted Rusty which returned to them already and stood up on his hind legs, his paws on Brody's leg, demanding Brody to play with him more with a wagging tail. Brody complied and threw Frisbee again. "And thank you."

"Oh no, it's fine. Thanks is mutual, you know, your aunt's one of my closest friends and she's been so nice to me since I moved to her next door." Rusty ran back to them and waited for Rachel to stroke him on his head wagging his tail frantically. "Good boy." Rusty seemed satisfied. "Go Rusty!" Rachel threw Frisbee for him.

Smiling, Brody observed every interaction Rachel made with Rusty. "I guess he thinks you're the owner."

"I don't think so." She shook her head bashfully. "He's definitely become my friend, but I doubt that I give him play time as much as his owner used to." Concern clouded her face. "Have you been to visit your aunt?"

Brody rubbed his forehead and sifted on the bench uncomfortably. "Um… I thought I was gonna tomorrow, you know, I don't know the visiting hours."

"Oh, right. I'm sorry I must've forgotten telling you about that." Rachel apologized, scooping Rusty up in her arms.

"No, no, no." Brody objected quickly. "I mean, I should've asked you through texts so I could've visited her before meeting you."

Rachel nodded sadly. "You would be upset when you see her, you know, with all those tubes coming out of her." She looked at Brody, forcing herself to smile in order to cheer him up. "But you know your aunt. She's a fighter, a tough bird. If anyone can come out of a coma, it's your aunt."

Pseudo Brody felt guilty for the sweet girl and anger at the real Brody at the same time. "Thanks." That was all he could say. He cleared his throat. "Do you think I can get along with him like you?" He stroked Rusty between his eyes, which was content in Rachel's arms.

Rachel blinked a few times, but soon she smiled. "Oh, yeah. He already likes you. Look." She gestured to the dog which closed his eyes contently from his ministration.

"Yeah? You think so?" A lopsided smile appeared on his lips, looking at her, wondering if she liked him as well.

"Hmm-hmm." Rachel nodded, beaming. "Yeah, I know so."

* * *

Laying down on the bed, Rachel was thinking about Mrs. Weston's nephew.

Brody wasn't what she was expecting. At all. From what she had heard about the modeling shoots, self-portrait and everything. Except for the fact that he was very attractive. She was expecting some smooth operator in Gucci loafers. But what kind of smooth operator went around in a Journey T-shirt? And he had on dark blue jeans and well-worn NIKE. And he seemed a bit clumsy (but she took it adorable).

Besides, he was so modest and caring. When she asked him about his work for the Save the Children fund, he seemed not to talk about the details. Maybe he was not one to show off his exploits unlike Jesse. And he asked all sorts of things about what happened to his aunt. It was really touching how much he seemed to care about his aunt. And he listened to her intently when she explained how to take care of Rusty.

Though Rachel thought that Brody was a bit… forgetful.

She was surprised that he asked he could get along with Rusty. Did he never meet Rusty? It didn't make sense. Considering the dog was five years old now, Brody was supposed to already know his aunt's dog. Maybe Mrs. Weston locked her dog into another room in her apartment when Brody visited her? But it didn't make sense either since the dog seemed to immediately get to like him.

And he seemed to have no idea how mischievous the Jack Russell Terrier was. He too was supposed to know the dog's mischievousness since Rusty might've been more vigorous when Brody last visited his aunt (more oddly, he also seemed not to know how his aunt was tough since he said he didn't see how a frail old woman could walk such a mischievous dog on a regular basis). Judging by having Mrs. Weston always talked about him as if she thought he was a little irresponsible, definitely she'd kept her dog from her nephew, though she didn't think that Brody was an irresponsible guy. Mrs. Weston didn't do her nephew justice.

He was so easy to get along with. Handsome face with warm amber eyes, charming lopsided smile… Everyone would (or had to) like him, Rachel included. She couldn't imagine that they had been at outs. But she better not poke her nose into their private issues.

So, he was definitely not the same guy who displayed a nude picture of himself into the Biennial. Santana might be exaggerating about that. Maybe he wasn't really nude.

And as far as she remembered, Mrs. Weston's nephew was a bit taller than his aunt, like 5'10" or so. She was surprised when she opened the door. His chest (a Journey T-shirt, to be precise), that was the first thing came in her sight when she opened the door. Brody Weston was _huge_. Practically she had to look up at him. She wondered if boys kept growing in their twenties.

* * *

"Why do you have to move in? Are you insane? You can't move into that woman's apartment, Finn! What's wrong with you?" Kurt, who was forced to help Finn to pack his stuff for his moving, cried out.

"The dog needs exercise for an hour in the morning, Kurt, and for another hour at night. And I have two more cats to take care of." Finn grabbed his file folders and school books from his desk before putting them into a cardboard box. "It's easier to take care of them, you know, I can't go to and from my apartment before and after school."

"You have a half month before school starts." Kurt pointed out. "You like her." Finn didn't answer so Kurt continued. "You can't like her… What's her name again?"

"Rachel." Finn murmured.

"Right, Rachel." Kurt sat on the bed "You know you can't like her. Did you forget you're pretending to be Brody? You're lying to her."

"I know, I know that, Kurt, okay?" Frustrated, Finn stopped gathering his clothes from his closet before pacing in his tiny studio. "But she thinks I'm Brody Weston and, and I already went along with it."

"You should tell her the truth." Kurt folded his arms across his chest.

Finn stopped in front of his step brother. "How can I possibly explain this situation. I already lied to her. Do you think she believe that?" He ran his hand through his hair.

Kurt watched his brother begin pacing again. "The sooner the better. If you really like her, you better come clean."

"I'm a total stranger to Mrs. Weston." Finn threw his hands in the air. "If I tell her I'm not Brody, she has to take care of Rusty and the cats and doesn't have time for herself because of her job schedule. I don't want to put her into that crazy situation."

Kurt sighed. "Alright. But don't whine later." He stood up and resumed packing. "I warned you."

Finn nodded, trying to hide his frustration.

"Speaking of her job, what does she do?" Kurt asked.

Fidgeted, Finn fell into silence and continued packing. Rachel told him that she was from Lima, Ohio, after high school graduation she moved to NY to go to NYADA in order to become a Broadway actress. And now she was working at the off-Broadway production called 'Avenue Q.' Which meant that Kurt possibly had heard her name (besides, he remembered that Kurt was dating with a guy named Adam or something from NYADA when he was in FIT). Kurt loved Broadway. If Finn told him about it, Kurt would demand him to introduce her.

"Finn?" Kurt called out. "What does she do?"

"Um… she's a… performer." Finn answered vaguely.

Kurt frowned. "What do you mean by performer? Dancer or something?"

Finn sighed, knowing his brother wouldn't drop it. "Um… actress?"

Kurt raised his eyebrow. "You mean, a Broadway actress?" He put two and two together. "Wait, you said her name was Rachel, right?" He saw his brother nodding. "As in Rachel Berry?"

Finn nodded again. Right, his brother knew her.

"Oh my God!" Kurt lightened up, clasping his hands in front of his chest. "Do you realize who she is? She graduated top of her class from NYADA this year and is one of young promising Broadway actresses!" He jumped up and down. "I want to meet her. You should introduce me to her."

Finn shut his eyes and shook his head. "I'm supposed to be the only living relative of the poor old woman, remember? How can I introduce my brother to her?"

"Friends? From high school?" Kurt suggested, totally forgetting he had told his brother to come clean.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Kurt." Finn wanted to keep the upcoming damage at minimum. "When the time comes, you'll meet her."

Kurt pouted. "But what if Brody's aunt never comes out of a coma?" He remembered what he had said to his brother a few minutes before. "You really should tell her the truth." He handed out the bag to Finn.

"I know, and I will." Finn blew out a breath, wondering when and how he could tell her the truth. "Well, thanks for coming help me pack. I'll buy you lunch."

* * *

**Please review :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: How are you guys doing under the hot sun? Thank you for reading my story and reviews! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter too. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee.**

* * *

**Chapter 4 – August 2013**

"He did move in his aunt apartment?" Tina, engaging in animated conversation with Rachel on the phone, turned to her fiancé and made a gesture of shoosh for him who was getting annoyed with his girl for neglecting their upcoming family dinner plan.

"Yep. He said no pets allowed in his apartment. Is that sweet of him, isn't it?" Rachel said, peeking Mrs. Weston's apartment through her living room window. "He's settled in Mrs. Weston's guest room."

"How did you know?" Tina asked.

"I can see him." Rachel answered. "Right into the guest room."

"Are you spying on him?" Tina gasped, scandalizing. "You perv!"

"I'm not a perv!" Rachel huffed but her face blushed. She immediately pulled her face from the window in order for Brody not to notice. "Can't help it. One of the windows in my living room faces Mrs. Weston's guest room. She always kept the mini-blinds in that room down, but Brody opened them right up." Her voice was turned into whisper as if Brody could hear her talking voice.

"Tell me, tell me what you can see now!" Tina got excited with immense curiosity. "Is he naked?"

"No! Who is a perv now?" Rachel heard Mike shout from behind '_This is ridiculous!_' "Is this a good time to talk with you?"

"It's all right." Tina assured, rolling her eyes, before turning her head to her fiancé and shouting. '_Like you've been a great help to plan our wedding. you can't talk!_' Then she tried to get back to the subject at hand. "And?"

Rachel slowly took a peek again. "I can see him sitting on the bed, writing in some papers, eating some snack. Napoléon and Ms. Bonaparte are on the bed beside him, as is Rusty." She smiled at the picture of four of them. "Do you think it's true that small children and animals detect what kind of person they are?"

"I don't think so." Tina said. "You know the Jefrow at the Ladurée, right? He said he had 4 cats and was a cat whisperer."

"You talked to him?" Rachel shuddered, recalling he gave her a creepy manner and was eager to take her order whenever she went to the restaurant.

"Actually _he_ talked to me." Tina recalled creepy waiter, Jacob Ben Israel (he forced her to remember his name), told her about himself. "As we suspected, yes, he has a thing for you and is desperately trying to impress you." Tina laughed. "You know, Jesse was number one on his list of people he'd like to kill. Now you're single and I'm sure he's ready to sweep you off your feet."

"Sure, he is." Rachel snorted, rolling her eyes. "Why did he have to tell you about that anyway?"

"Um… because I might have informed him that you liked animals?" Tina confessed.

"_Tina!_" Rachel hissed. "Please don't tell him about me. I mean, _anything_! It misleads him otherwise." She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I won't. Sorry." Tina took an oath before hearing giggles from the other side of the line. "Why are you giggling?"

Rachel saw Brody jump up from the bed and get flustered since one of the cats (she assumed that was Ms. Bonaparte which was the more waggish) attacked his snack and he spilled it all over the bed. He wiped his fingers with his t-shirt (such a guy!) and tenderly picked up two cats and Rusty to put them down on the floor before they could've eaten the snack spread the bed. After Brody evacuated them from the disaster, he seemed to walk around the room in order to look for something which ended up in vain. Then his eyes met Rachel's.

"Oh no. I've been made!" Rachel froze. He however didn't seem mind her peeping (or she could tell he didn't seem to notice that she had peeped into his (his aunt's guest) room. Instead, he smiled at her waving before gesturing for her to come over. "I gotta go. He seems to need me." She hung up before Tina could be given the answer.

"What? You've not answered yet! What's going on?" Confused, Tina required Rachel to explain. "_Rachel!_" She cried out but the line already was dead.

* * *

Brody opened the front door with a lopsided grin before Rachel could knock on it. "Come in." He stepped aside holding the door for her. "Sorry to bother you."

"There's no problem at all." Rachel smiled back at him. "What can I help for you?"

"Um… do you happen to know where a vacuum is? There's not in the guest room and in the broom closet either. I can't go into my aunt bedroom, you know, it's kinda inappropriate, so…" He rambled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I think you can go into her bedroom, but," Rachel giggled, "you don't have to go there because the vacuum is not there." She walked over the kitchen and turned to him. "I don't know why but it's here." She pointed to the pantry before sliding the pantry's door open.

"Do you think if I can find a can opener in here too?" Brody asked grabbing the vacuum.

"You have good intuition." Rachel beamed, walking in the pantry and tiptoed to reach the top shelf.

Brody smiled at her adorable demeanor. "I get it." He walked over and stood behind her to pick up the can opener.

Rachel turned around and found Brody standing only a few inches away from her. She could smell the mix of fresh laundry and his cologne which was clean but musky at the same time. She blushed and looked down biting her lower lip.

"It's an advantage of being tall." The 6'3" looked down and winked at her. "Not always fun though."

Rachel's heart began to pound since Brody maintained their distance. "Such as?" She managed to ask, glancing up at him through her eyelashes.

"Well, first of all, I'm uncoordinated. My dance sucks. Secondly, I always hit my head when getting in and out of cars or walking in a place with low door frames…"

Rachel giggled picturing how Brody danced and hit his head the door frame.

"… My brother Kurt says that's why I'm dense." Brody didn't realize his own word.

Rachel shot up her head with his mentioning 'brother.' "I didn't know you had a brother."

_Shit_. "Um, I mean, He's not my brother actually." It was not a total lie because Kurt was his 'step' brother, pseudo Brody was trying to convince himself as he scratched the back of his head thinking hard how to make a story. "He's one of my best friends from high school, so we're like brothers now." He hoped Rachel would buy it. "Have you eaten yet?" He changed the subject. "I was gonna order Chinese for a dinner. Would you like to join me?"

It was already past 8 pm. Usually Rachel didn't eat at this time. She however really wanted to spend more time with Brody. If eating after 8 pm meant extending the time she could hang out with him, she'd delightfully go along with it. "I'd like to."

Relieved at not only succeeding in distracting her from his having let slip but also her affirmation to his dinner offer, Brody let out a breath and smiled. "So can you wait for me in the living room while I make a phone call to order our dinner and clean a mess that I made in the guest room?" He put his hand on her small back to lead her out of the pantry, trying to ignore the butterflies he felt in his stomach by chewing inside of his cheeks.

His light touch with a large hand made Rachel's heart skip a beat. All she could do was just nodding.

"Here's a menu." Brody took a delivery menu from the kitchen counter and handed it out to her. "What would like to order?" He asked.

Rachel took a look through the menu before deciding. "I'll go for Tofu chow mein." She handed back the menu to Brody.

Brody nodded and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed to order. "… Yep, tofu chow mein, sesame noodles, moo shu pork, chicken with broccoli and… wait for a sec," Brody turned his face to Rachel and asked. "Do you want spring rolls?"

Rachel was surprised at his order, which was enough for three people let alone two people, wondering if he ordered his tomorrow's lunch or dinner as well. "Um… yes, if they don't have meat ingredients."

"You don't eat meat?"

Brody seemed to be a bit surprised. Rachel had experienced some passed judgment on her veganism and activities for PETA. She however decided to be honest to him since he didn't seem to judge people by their life style. "I don't. I'm a vegan, so…"

"Okay." As Rachel imagined, Brody just nodded before resuming his order. "What're the ingredients of spring rolls? Uh-huh, alright. Then vegetable stir fry and four spring rolls. That's it. Thanks." He hung up as he turned to Rachel again. "They said the delivery would be in thirty minutes." He grabbed the TV clicker and handed it out to her. "Make yourself…" He paused, feeling odd when he was going to use the following words since Mrs. Weston was not his aunt. "At home." He finally managed to finish the sentence before leaving for the guest room to clean up.

When Brody opened the guest room door, Rusty and the cats emerged from it and Rusty attacked Rachel to greet. She picked him off the floor and gave him an affectionate hug. "Rusty! How are you doing?" She giggled as she allowed him to lick her face. "Are you having fun with Brody?"

Brody peeped from the guest room door, grinning at the picture of Rachel and Rusty. He was for a moment lost in a reverie of how was like if he and a girl like Rachel had lived together with a dog. Rusty's bark however forced him to return reality. He shook his head as he realized he got ahead of himself (far from that, Rachel didn't know who he really was! _Get a grip, Finn!_).

* * *

Dinner after 8 pm. That was totally worth it. Rachel had never seen someone like Brody who ate with a kingly zest and happily enjoyed eating. The way he was eating made her feel happy too, even though she had a small appetite at night (but she was wont to eat big breakfast and she loved food). She wouldn't regret eating too much at this time when waking up tomorrow morning since his eating demeanor was infectious! Besides, he was kind enough to make an additional order of vegetable dishes for her. Of course she had to exercise more the next day though.

"Alright. I already revealed my embarrassment. So it's only fair if you tell me your embarrassing moments." Brody declared, standing up from the sofa and walking over the kitchen. "You want a beer or something?"

"A glass of red wine if it's okay." Rachel requested, turning her head to him. "And what was your embarrassment? I have no idea." Rachel continued to speak.

"I told you my dance sucked." Brody spoke loudly from the kitchen as he looked for some bottle of wine through the cabinet, recalling he had seen them somewhere (of course he didn't forget purchasing the same bottle later and put it away later). After he found them, he grabbed one of the bottles and a glass for Rachel, and got his beer from the fridge.

"I'll make a judgment when I see you dance. So it doesn't count." Rachel reasoned as she took a glass and a wine bottle from Brody. "As for my embarrassment, I don't know, maybe I'll creep you out when I tell you this." She hesitated, biting her lower lip.

"Nah. I don't think I'll be creeped out no matter what you tell." Brody assured.

"Well," Rachel took a deep breath, thinking that a relationship (if there was between Brody and her, but she hoped there was) should be built strongly by accepting a partner's shortcomings. "When I was eight years old, I got my first love letter from a guy named Tony, and he was very cute and when he gave it to me, I corrected all the grammatical errors and the spelling errors and I gave it back to him."

Brody raised his eyebrow and flared his nostril before burst out laughing. "That's so embarrassing!"

Smiling, Rachel was relieved as he didn't freak out at her. "Okay, your turn." She tucked a pile of her hair behind her ear as she straightened up.

"Alright." Brody put his beer on the table before confessing. "I've dressed in a Lady Gaga costume made from _two_ red shower curtains for Glee assignment." He saved the back ground story with a mixed feeling since his lie as to pretend Brody shouldn't be exposed.

"You were in a glee club?" Rachel's eyes lightened up. "I was in a glee club too! I didn't know you sing." She clasped her hands across her chest. "You have to show your singing voice _and_ the picture of you in that dress."

"Yes, no and no." Brody answered respectively. "You're a pro, so I won't add a new episode to my embarrassment history. And there was no picture." He prayed not to go beetroot.

"I know you're lying." Rachel beamed, not knowing those words almost caused him to have a heart attack (but he practically choked on his beer). "Are you okay?" Rachel gentled on his back with a concern.

"I-I'm f-fine." Brody stammered before cleared his throat. "The beer went down the wrong pipe." He assured her smiling weakly at her. "What do you mean I'm lying?"

"There's the picture, isn't there?" Rachel pressed, narrowing her eyes. "I caught out you turning red when you said there was none."

"Guilty as charged." Relieved, Brody stuck out his tongue. Yes, there was the picture of him in the red shower curtain dress which Kurt took a picture after a picture in amusement. "I assume Kurt preserves some on his phone." _Oh shit, I dropped my step brother's name again._

"You and the guy named Kurt are really good friends, aren't you?" Rachel gave her a big smile, but she keep it inside that she wanted to meet his best friend. Little did she know that Brody wanted her to meet Kurt since Rachel and Kurt would definitely get along well. "Why did you choose to be a photographer, by the way? I mean, you wore a Journey T-shirt when we first met and you were in a glee club, so…" Rachel said out of curiosity.

"You noticed the T-shirt." Brody rubbed the back of his neck. "I love classic rock and my musical talent was not enough as a calling." He explained. It was true, but he avoided mentioning the reason why he became a photographer since he wasn't one. Besides, he didn't know anything about photograph and the story as to how the real Brody came to work as a photographer either. "Photograph pays a bill, you know."

Brody however didn't have to worry too much because Rachel seemed to be interested in his saying he loved classic rock. After he mentioned glee club and classic rock, their musical talk got full of stimulation with the assistance of booze. Brody learnt that Rachel had a bunch of classic rock vinyl and she said he could listen to them in her apartment whenever he wanted.

When their music talk was used up for the day, it already was past midnight. Rusty needed to go out, but they couldn't call it a night since both of them didn't want to end the night. After a comfortable silence, Brody noticed a bit of red wine was on the end of Rachel's lips.

"You got a little wine right here." Brody reached for and wiped it out with his thumb. He stared at her eyes and then her lips for a while.

Rachel's heart pounded hard with his action. "I-You…"

Before she finished her sentence, Brody averted his gaze from her and cleared his throat. "I-I have to walk Rusty and give him exercise." He wanted to kiss her. He really did. But he couldn't bring himself to do so since Rachel thought he was Brody.

Rachel stood up from the sofa. "I have to go to bed." She forced herself to smile, bottling up her disappointment. "Thank you for the dinner, and I had a good night." With that she walked over towards the front door.

"Rachel, wait!" Brody sprung to his feet and called out.

But Rachel didn't turn around and left his apartment.

Brody sank down in the sofa and buried his face in his hands with a frustration.

What should he do?

* * *

**Please review :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending your reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 5 – September 2013**

It had been a week and a half since Rachel left his… correction, his college roommate's aunt's apartment. Since then, Finn had been in agony and hadn't picked up any calls from his friends and family members. Usually the beginning of September was one of his favorite times and got excited at the very thought of a new academic year approaching. He however couldn't think about the first day of his school (he almost forgot the next day's teachers' meeting).

When he finally made up his mind to get out of the bed in order to prepare his report for the meeting, he heard the buzzard from the intercom. It was past afternoon. It couldn't be Rachel. If it could be her, she should've directly knocked on the front door. He however hoped it could be her. He missed talking to her. He slowly walked to the door, trying to compose himself and thinking what to say to her. He took a deep breath before answering the intercom.

"_Mr. Weston, you have a guest, Mr. Kurt Hummel. Can I send him up?_"

Finn sighed with disappointment. "Yeah, you can."

"What are you doing here?" Finn bluntly asked as he opened the door, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

"Right back at you." Kurt huffed, fixing his bang aside. He let himself inside without permission and turned around towards his giant step brother, his hand on his hip. "What _are_ you doing here?"

Ignoring Kurt's question, Finn shut the door close. "Rachel would've seen you." He murmured.

"That's why I came here at this hour." Kurt felt insulted since he knew Broadway schedule more than his brother. "I know she's not in her apartment. She's now in the theater to rehearse, and doesn't come home until, well, eight or nine pm, right?" He followed Finn into the living room, who still didn't answer. "What happened? You've been ignoring everyone's call."

Finn plumped down on the sofa and stared at the wall for a while before answering his brother's question. "I screwed up." He ran a hand through his hair.

Kurt sat on the sofa next to Finn. "Details, Finn."

Finn slowly opened his mouth to tell his brother what happened to him and Rachel the other day. "What am I supposed to do?" He leaned back in the sofa, staring at the ceiling.

"It's simple. Just tell her the truth." As Kurt said, another buzzard came from the intercom.

Finn frowned. "Are you with someone else?"

"It can't be helped. She didn't listen to me." Kurt made an excuse as he stood up and rushed into the intercom to answer before Finn could have done so. "Send her up, please."

"Her? Who?" Finn yelled at his brother from the sofa. Finn groaned as he saw the very pregnant woman let her body inside. "Kurt, why did you have to bring her here?"

"She's been bored since she was on maternity leave." Kurt held his hand for Quinn to take.

Quinn took his hand. "Thank you, Kurt." She turned her head towards Finn. "Hi, Finn. I brought chicken sandwiches and cold potato soup." She lifted the takeout containers in the air in order for Finn to look at them, hoping his mood would change.

"Don't think I always can be bribed with food." Finn folded his arms across his chest, praying his stomach wouldn't growl.

Quinn was surprised as Kurt widened his eyes. "Wow, you have a serious problem." She put the containers on the table as she sat down on the arm chair. "Anyway, I'm going to eat. My baby wants to be feed." She rubbed her bump before opening one of the containers.

Kurt, who was in the kitchen to pick up some paper napkins and cutlery, walked back into the living room.

"So, what happened?" Quinn asked to Finn, taking her cutlery from Kurt.

Finn, still his arms crossed, looked away from her. "I'm not gonna explain again."

Quinn expectantly turned her head to Kurt. "Kurt?"

After Kurt briefed her on Finn's mishap, Quinn and he began to discuss what Finn should do.

"I think he should tell her the truth." Kurt said to Quinn the same as he had done to his brother. He put a paper napkin on his laps before biting his sandwich.

"Why? I don't think he should tell the truth right away, even though he missed his chance to kiss her." Quinn objected. "I think what he's doing is very sweet." She took a big bite of her sandwich.

"I'm not saying it's not sweet of him." Kurt wiped his mouth with a napkin.

"He and the girl… what's her name?" Quinn asked.

"Rachel." Kurt immediately informed.

"He and Rachel aren't dating, let alone a couple, to begin with, right?" Quinn put down her sandwich and grabbed her spoon to have a soup. "So, it's no big deal he chickened out to kiss her." After taking a sip, she continued. "he just needs to ask her out first. He has to get back on the dating scene. Besides, it's not like she's the one for him, is it?"

"Hello?" Finn, who was staring at his brother and a wife of his best friend with opened mouth, frantically waved his arms in order for them to notice his presence. "I'm here? How dare you two could ignore me and pursue the subject without including me? Or I should say this is _my_ problem and you can't be included."

"But if we have an opportunity to meet her, we have to lie to her too." Quinn pointed out.

"I'm not planning to introduce her to you guys as long as I have to pretend to be Brody." Finn said bluntly. "So don't come here while I have to be Brody, please. It'll get more complicated if you meet her."

"I thought I was your friend." Quinn pouted.

"And your brother am I." Kurt assisted, folding his arms across his chest. "Then you should've picked up your phone in the first place."

"I'm sorry that I ignored your phone calls and I appreciate your concern." Finn said apologetically. "But Brody, I mean, the real one is bugging me to send texts, insisting on me to report the progress. I know he's a bastard, but I owe him and should keep my word."

"Why don't you ask her out for dinner whenever she's available? I'll make sure I tell the girls to call you Brody. They'll think it's fun! Like a game!" Quinn clapped her hands, totally ignoring what Finn pleaded.

Kurt made a face at the pregnant woman and shook his head before turned his head to his brother. "So, that's it?"

"What's it?" Finn asked.

"About Rachel." Kurt answered, knowing his brother was really into that girl. That was what his most concerned about. Quinn said that it was not like Rachel was the one for Finn, but Kurt had a hunch that she might be. He hoped everything was going well between them since he witnessed his brother's eyes lightened up when he talked about her. Kurt had never seen his eyes lighten up that much before.

When Finn rubbed the back of his neck and was about to open his mouth, a few knocks on the front door came. Finn frowned. "Who's next?" He glared at his brother and Quinn as he stood up.

"I don't know." Kurt held his hands up in the air in defense of himself.

Finn peeped through the peephole and saw a middle aged African American man standing in front of the door, some dry cleaning in his hand. "I think Mrs. Weston's dry cleaning got delivered." He opened the door and took it from the man before writing down Brody's signature (he didn't know what his signature was like though).

Kurt raised his eyebrow as Finn walked back into the living room with the dry cleaning. "Is that really Mrs. Weston's?" He nodded towards the clothes wrapped by a clear plastic bag.

Finn looked down the dry cleaning, and then his gaze sifted from the attire to his brother quizzically.

"Do you happen to know how tall Mrs. Weston? Or Rachel?" Kurt asked.

"Um… Rachel is petit, like 5'3" or something." Finn couldn't help but smiling picturing what she was like. He made a straight face immediately as he heard Kurt clearing his throat. "Mrs. Weston is… I think Rachel has mentioned she was much taller than herself."

"Then that is not Mrs. Weston's but Rachel's, I assume." Kurt said.

"How did you know?" Finn asked.

"Finn, I am a professional working in the fashion industry. The attire is for a small person. Besides, the silhouette is not for seventies or eighties women." Kurt pointed out.

"Oh."

"You could speak to her again on the pretext of the dry cleaning." Kurt suggested before adding. "You and Rachel match nicely since you two have no taste in fashion."

"Rachel wears nice dresses." Finn defended. "Besides, she's pretty even in sweat."

Kurt rolled his eyes. "That's why you two match nicely." He stood up and glanced at Quinn, who was eating her food absorbedly. "Quinn, we should go." He held his hand for help.

"Has his problem been resolved?" Quinn raised her body up out of the arm chair.

"Sort of." Kurt answered on behalf of Finn. "Let's go shopping." Then he turned his head to Finn. "Although I still think you should tell her the truth, I hope it'll go well between you two." With that, he left the apartment with Quinn.

"Thanks." Finn said with his lopsided smile, seeing his brother and the pregnant woman off, before returning to the living room, determined to going to ask Rachel out on a date.

* * *

It had been a week and a half since Rachel last conversed included the name 'Brody' or 'Weston' with her co-stars. Up to that time, she had made a detail report of him or their interaction with her twinkling eyes to Tina (and sometimes Santana too who however mostly had had it from Tina). Since Rachel stopped mentioning his name, she had been sedulous to operate her puppet without wasting her breath. Even though Tina tried to obtain what had happened to Brody and her, Rachel always changed the subject. Tina and Santana exchanged significant glances when the rehearsal finished.

"I can't stand it anymore!" Santana held up her hands in the air. "This is worse than when she acts like a diva, isn't it?" She grabbed her training bag. "Alright, we're gonna dig up what happened between that naked man and her at your six billion pack restaurant."

Tina nodded at the Latina. "Even Mike's beginning to worry about me because I stopped gossiping with her about Brody." She glanced at Rachel and sighed.

"What're the new recipes he'll feed us today?" Santana asked.

"Mille-feuille with saucy, eggplant and cream cheese, and Warm Peach Tart." Tina answered, grinning. Food testing at Mike's restaurant 'La Rivière' – a cozy restaurant overlooking the Hudson River which served dishes with an exquisite blend of French, American and Asian influences and ingredients - was the seasonal event for her and her friends.

Santana arched her eyebrow, thinking how she bribed Rachel without new recipes. "So Rachel won't be treated to a dinner this time?"

"Mike and I know her better than that. I'm sure he'll provide Rachel's special." Tina assured. "Besides, she still can have the new dessert."

Santana approached Rachel and patted on her shoulder. She still was absorbed in practicing her puppet and didn't realize the rehearsal had ended twelve minutes before. "Berry, the rehearsal's over. We should be at Le Rivière in thirty minutes."

"Oh, is that the time?" Rachel glanced at her watch. "I have to get changed." She gathered her stuff off the floor in rush before running into her green room without looking at her friends.

Tina watched Rachel leaving and switched her gaze to Santana, who just shrugged at Tina. "Well, we should get changed too. Let's go."

Eighteen minutes later, the three managed to hail a cab in front of the theater and headed to Mike's restaurant. More seven minutes later, they arrived there a little behind schedule. Mike, who already received a call from his fiancée that they would be a little late, welcomed them with a smile and showed them to their reserved table.

"I'm not gonna let you go home today until you tell us about what happened the other day." Tina broached in defiance of Santana as soon as they sat at the table.

Rachel widened her eyes staring at Tina for a moment before fetching a deep sigh. After waiting for a waiter to pour white wine into their glasses, she began to talk. "I'm hideous."

"No, you're not!" Tina cried out. "Why did you say that?" She asked with concerned eyes, but Rachel cast down her eyes and kept silent.

Santana put Rachel's glass closer to her. "Drink it, Berry."

Rachel grabbed her glass and chugged it down. "I found us a lot of common the other day and we had a very lovely evening." She poured herself another glass of wine and chugged again. Then she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before speaking again. "Until the last moment."

Tina and Santana looked at each other quizzically.

"He seemed to want to kiss me. At least I thought so." Rachel sighed. "But he didn't." She watched Santana pouring another glass of wine for her before downing _again_. "Thanks, Tana."

"So what?" Tina interrupted. "He might think it was not the right time or something, you know, you two didn't go on a date yet."

Rachel looked up at Santana. "But he's a ladies' man, isn't he, Santana?"

Santana shut her eyes, thinking what to say, before opening her mouth. "Judging by the information I've collected, yes, he is." She leaned forward. "But you said he was not like that."

"Then why didn't he kiss me?" Rachel made a grimace with hurt. "I can suppose only because I'm hideous." She buried her face in her hands. "Oh God, I should've never mentioned my embarrassment."

"What's your embarrassment?" Santana asked, arching her eyebrow.

Rachel shook her head. "I won't tell." Rachel grabbed her cutlery and was about to eat her entrée which a waiter just had served.

"You told him your embarrassment not us?" Tina pouted as she snatched Rachel's plate. "Not fair!"

Santana nodded in agreement. "Besides, what's worse than your taste in fashion?"

Rachel glared at Santana, but she complied. "I got my first love letter from a boy named Tony when I was a kid, but I corrected all the grammatical and spelling errors and I gave it back to him." She murmured.

Santana burst into laughter with her head backward as Tina giggled. "That's so embarrassing!" Santana wiped her tears with her thumb. "Oh, this is good, really good. That is _so_ you."

"Thanks, Santana." Rachel snorted as she put her plate back in front of her and stuffed her entrée into her mouth with dissatisfaction.

"How did he react?" Tina asked as she began to eat her entrée too.

Rachel shrugged. "He said exactly the same as Santana's just said, except for the last part."

"Was that the last conversation between you two?" Tina continued to investigate.

"No." Rachel sipped her fifth glass of wine as she started reciting all the conversation Brody and she had had at that night.

"It doesn't explain at all." Tina frowned. "Your embarrassing story was definitely not the reason why he didn't kiss you."

"Was he in a glee club?" Santana frowned with a different reason from Tina's. She was reliably informed as to who Brody was like. The guy she leant about had _not_ to be in a Lady Gaga dress made from multiple red shower curtains. She needed to probe into his secret.

While Santana was deep in thought, Rachel and Tina continued discussing the reason why Brody didn't pass at Rachel.

"Do you think he's gay?" Rachel asked.

"Maybe." But Tina was not sure because she never met him in person. "But you said he spilled his snack all over the bed, right?" She recalled their conversation through telephone. "And as far as I remembered correctly, Mrs. Weston's bedspread is vintage chenille, isn't it?" She saw Rachel nodding. "Don't you think gay guys notice vintage chenille? Besides, you have two gay dads, Rachel. I don't think your gaydar goes wrong." She pointed out.

"Which means I get nowhere." Rachel grabbed her glass – Tina, Santana and even Rachel herself didn't realize that that was her twelfth – and chugged down. "Which means I'm hideous." She slurred. "Considering what Santana said he was a ladies' man, that's the only reason." She began crashing her head down on to the table repeatedly.

Tina glanced at Santana, who slid her hand between the table and Rachel's forehead. "You're not hideous, Berry." She sighed. "Judging by what you've explained, I'm sure he's interested in you." She cheered her up.

When their desserts were delivered, Jesse, who had been on the corner of the stage at the theater and had partially eavesdropped the three girls' conversation, walked over towards their table carefully. This time, no flowers, no letters, but prepared a big speech.

"Hi, Rachel." Smiling, Jesse sat himself down on a chair next to Rachel without permission.

"You're not invited." Tina huffed at his blatant manner and left her chair to go to the bathroom.

Jesse ignored Tina's rude demeanor before looking at Rachel and started to talk. "I'm so worried about you, Rachel." He put the wine glass away from her and took her hand in his. "Is that true a naked man moved in next door to you?"

"Huh? Who?" Officially drunk Rachel didn't understand what Jesse said, her eyes keeping going out of focus.

"The naked man." Jesse repeated. "I don't think it's appropriate for a man to parade around nude in front of his neighbors." He offered a glass of water to Rachel, who pushed it away, grabbed another bottle of white wine and poured into her glass for herself. "Rachel, you should stop drinking."

"Tomorrow's off. So why not?" Rachel downed her glass.

Jesse sighed. "Rachel, I was wondering if you'd given any thought to what I said in your green room the other day."

Without saying anything, Santana just watched at the two of them in amusement.

Jesse continued. "I've been thinking recently when I first met you, or when we first did a duet…"

Jesse went on and on his speech, as if he decided to propose Rachel, as to how much he regretted having letting her go. As his speech went on, his voice got louder which almost everyone in the restaurant could hear and one by one started staring at the direction where Jesse and Rachel were sitting.

"… Rachel, I've decided. The person I want to live with, more than anyone else in this planet, is you. I believe I am ready to make a commitment."

Now dead drunk Rachel was half asleep and fell forward on Jesse's chest unconsciously. Jesse, who noticed that Rachel wasn't listening to him (or didn't understand what he was saying), held her in his arms intentionally, which seemed as if they reconciled to the guests' eyes.

"Oh, Rachel, please won't you let that commitment be with you?" Jesse, burying her face in Rachel's neck, dramatically finished.

Santana began clapping her hand before saying sarcastically. "Bra-vo!"

What was inconceivable for Santana, her clapping her hands and the sarcastic word led all the guests to applaud at Jesse and Rachel, some of them whistled. Jesse didn't seem to mind, or you could say that he was satisfied in the spotlight since he stood up and made the most graceful bow on all sides.

Santana rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Tina, who had snuck into the kitchen after having done her business in the bathroom, returned to the dining floor right at the moment that the guests were applauding. She looked around questioningly before asking to Santana. "What did I miss?"

"Just another historic farce." Santana informed, snorting.

Nodding, Tina immediately understood and turned her head towards Jesse. "Wow, Jesse, another monodrama? You really are admirable in a way."

"Thanks." Jesse smirked, understanding they were sarcastic. "I'm going to walk her home." He held his hand in the air in order for Tina and Santana to interrupt. "You live in Brooklyn, Santana. And Tina, you have to want to wait for your fiancé, right? Which means, I'm the one who can take care of her."

Tina and Santana looked at each other before nodding affirmatively. Jesse could be a jackass when he wanted to be, but he never forced Rachel to have sex with him, which the only one thing they trusted him about. Santana, however, didn't forget pointing out what his real intention was. "You just want to leave the stage as your grand finale and complete your monodrama."

Jesse shrugged. "I really care about her." With that, he scooped Rachel up into his arms and left the restaurant.

As soon as Jesse and Rachel were gone, Tina leaned forward, putting her crossed arms on the table. "Alright, tell me what I missed."

* * *

"Jesse, I'm fiiiine. I can goooo inside by myseeeelf." Rachel slurred, pushing him in front of her apartment building.

"No, you're drunk walking. It's dangerous on those heels." Jesse insisted that he should walk her home to her door. "C'mon, Rachel." He took her arm and wrapped it around his torso. "Hey, Nikolay." He greeted, nodding at the doorman.

"Mr. St. James." Nikolay the doorman greeted back before adding. "Good evening, Ms. Berry."

"Helloooo, Mr. Nikolay Kafelnikov! Good eveniiiiinngg!" Rachel beamed, waving her hand at him.

Jesse sighed and pressing the elevator. When the elevator arrived at the first floor, he encouraged Rachel to move forward. "Rachel, come on."

"You're bossy." Rachel criticized as she got in the elevator. "My feet hurt." She whined as she was about to bend down to take her heels off. "I'm going to take my shoes off!" She happily declared.

"I get them." Jesse stooped to take her heels off. Rachel put her hand on his shoulder to stay standing straight. "There." He handed them back to her.

"Thank you, Jesse." Rachel closed her eyes, relieved of the pain. "And I had enjoyed your speech at the restaurant." She blurted out.

Jesse raised his eyebrow. "Really?"

"I didn't mean that." Rachel shook her head. "I mean, I realized I love you as a friend and a colleague not as a man who lives with the rest of my life." She saw his hurt expression through her half opened eyes. "I'm sorry, Jesse, but it's the truth." They emerged out of the elevator as it got to her floor. She turned around to face Jesse. "We're very much alike and I thought we matched perfectly at first, you know, you're overdramatic and as am I. But Sometimes too much two of a kind doesn't work." Rachel rubbed his cheek with her thumb apologetically.

"And you met someone." Jesse sighed in defeated. "But please be careful, Rachel. Judging by what Santana said, I can't trust him yet."

Rachel nodded. "Thank you, Jesse." She tried to pull her key out of her purse but ended up all the contents falling on the floor. She giggled at her own carelessness. "I'm drunk!" She cried out.

"Rachel! It's past midnight." Jesse hushed, but it caused her to laugh more loudly.

Finn, who heard some noises outside of the door, got up out of the sofa before walking over to the front door. "Rachel?" He said surprised when he opened the door.

Jesse looked up and down at his enemy, folding his arms across his chest. "You must be Brody."

Finn frowned. "And you?"

"I'm Jesse St. James, Rachel's boyfriend." Jesse answered, holding out his hand to shake.

"No, he's an _ex_." Rachel corrected, yanking her ex to separate from her-hoping-soon-to-be-her-boyfriend. "Jesse, you can leave now." She pushed him towards the elevator.

Jesse reluctantly complied before pressing the button to go down. "Bye Rachel. Sleep tight." He said as he got into the elevator, pointing his two fingers towards his own eyes and then to Brody's eyes. "Take good care of her, or I will haunt you forever." With that the elevator door closed and Jesse disappeared.

Despite Rachel's ex was rude to Finn, he turned himself towards her with a smile. "Rachel, are you okay?" He could see her clearly drunk.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Rachel dismissed, about to bend down to pick her stuff up off the floor but lost her equilibrium.

Finn caught her right away from falling forward. "You're drunk." He whispered, still holding her in his arms.

Rachel wrapped her arms around his torso unconsciously and leaned her head to his chest. She closed her eyes and inhaled his smell. "You smell nice."

"Thanks." Was all Finn could say. His heart beat got fast.

Rachel looked up at him. "Why didn't you kiss me?" She blurted out in a drunken state.

"I-I…" Finn couldn't come up with a good answer.

"Why?" Rachel buried her face into his chest again. "Am I that hideous? Or Do I smell bad?" She abruptly pulled herself from him and sniffed herself. "It's not that bad, isn't it?"

"No!" Finn cried out. "No, I mean, you're beautiful and you smell nice too." He rubbed the back of his neck before putting his hands on her arms and bored into her eyes. "I wanted to kiss you." He murmured.

"Really?" Rachel's eyes lightened up but soon the cloud invaded on them. "Then why?" She closed her eyes again, almost asleep.

Finn began to pick up her stuff from the floor before stuffing them back into her purse her except for her key. "Rachel, you're drunk. You should go to bed now." He unlocked the door and opened it for her. "We'll talk when the right time comes, okay?"

Rachel leaned to him again and slightly nodded in his chest.

Finn realized she already was unconscious. He swept her up in his arms like a princess and carried her with his heels and purse into her bed room. Thinking hard for a while, he decided not to get her changed and just covered her with a blanket. He walked over to the kitchen to look for some medicine for a headache which she had to be suffered from next morning. After a few minutes later, he found one. He grabbed it and returned to her bed room with a glass of water too. He put them on the night table and turned off the light.

And he finally leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Good night, Rachel."

Finn left her bed room and closed her front door, wondering if she could remember this conversation when she woke up next morning.

* * *

**Please review :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 6 – September 2013**

Rachel Berry had never been drunk that much. Not either when she graduated from NYADA, or when she got a part of the off-Broadway musical. Whatever alcohol (mostly red wine) she took was taken the place of her friend not her foe. Even when Jesse confessed that he had cheated on her with the perfect creature of a model and she broke up with him, she didn't get drunk (she didn't think that she needed a drink).

She didn't know why she drank too much last night. To make matters worse, she didn't even remember what had happened the night before. The last thing she remembered was that Jesse had come to the restaurant and he somehow had been showered with a grand applause. The harder she thought about the night, the rottener her headache she got.

Lying on her bed, Rachel opened her one eye. She saw the sunlight through the curtains. She assumed from the slanting bars of it that it was past nine in the morning. She slowly sat up on the bed as she noticed that Tylenol and a glass of water on the night table. _Who did put them here? Did I do that myself? Or Jesse? When did he get so attentive?_

"Aww."

She put her hand on her forehead before massaging her temples with her fingers. She took two tablets from the white plastic bottle and let out a deep breath. Then she realized that she still was wearing the same clothes – a green knee length sleeveless dress with polka dots – of the night before. If Jesse put her to the bed, he probably helped her get changed (not for her, but for her clothes because he couldn't stand dresses would crease). _Then who?_ She tried to remember what had happened to her again as she heard some knocks on the front door. She got off the bed to answer the door, not being aware that her face was smeared from her make-up of the night before and her hair was disordered.

Rachel was surprised as she opened her front door. She found Brody standing there with a lopsided grin, wearing a plaid shirt (rolling up his sleeves) and cino, a big brown paper bag and a dry cleaning in his arms.

"Hi, Rach. How are you feeling?"

Rachel felt butterflies in her stomach as he called her a nickname which nobody had called before. She however looked down as she felt turn red with embarrassment since she perceived that he might be the one who put her to the bed and kindly enough to find medicine for her.

"I got some takeout vegan breakfast from Atlas Café. And I bought some fruits and vegetables too." Brody gave her a big smile in order for Rachel not to feel embarrassed. "I thought you needed to intake a lot of vitamin and carbohydrate with big breakfast."

"You went to East Village to buy my breakfast?" Rachel shot up her head as she heard the name of the restaurant. He probably bothered to check up where he could buy some vegan food, let alone he remembered that she was a vegan. "Thank you, Brody. But you didn't have to do that." Rachel bit her lower lip with nervousness.

"It's no big deal. I walked Rusty to there after he had gotten exercise in the dog run." Brody assured. "And I wanted to get my breakfast too." He seemed to wait for her to say something.

"Oh. I'm sorry. How rude I am." Rachel blushed, realizing she didn't invite him to enter. She stepped aside. "Please come in." She gestured for him to put the paper bag on the kitchen counter before looking down at herself with a start. "Um, if you don't mind, can I take a quick shower?"

Brody nodded. "And can I use your kitchen if you don't mind?" He put the paper bag down on the counter and pulled out a pear to be peeled and cut from the bag.

"Of course." Rachel, who was about to go into the bathroom, returned to the kitchen and informed him where the utensils were. "If you want to have some juice, there are in the fridge. And the ground coffee and tea are there." She pointed to the cabinet. "Make yourself at home." Then she excused herself and walked over towards the bathroom.

Approximately twenty three minutes later, refreshed Rachel, who got changed into black yoga capri and sky blue tank, emerged out of the bathroom. She smelled the fresh pot of coffee as she directly walked into the kitchen. She widened her eyes as she saw the breakfast already arranged on the table. Mediterranean tofu scramble (for her), mixed green salad (maybe for her too), two bowls of fruits salad, grilled chicken bagel (apparently for him), mushroom and cheese omelette (definitely for him), two glass of orange juice, two cup of coffee and Brody sitting on a stool.

"Your breakfast is served." Grinning, Brody pointed to the stool next to him.

Rachel felt a lump in her throat. How many guys had done such a thing for her? None. She might have disgraced herself in his presence by being drunk the night before, he said nothing but just took good care of her nonetheless. Her heart was too full for words. She just nodded with an appreciative smile at him and sat on the stool as he had said.

"You should eat, you know, after having drunk too much." Brody said as he saw Rachel, who seemed not to begin to eat, just looking down biting her lips. "Are you okay?"

Then Rachel looked up at him. "Were you the one putting me to the bed, and Tylenol on the night table?" She said in a low voice.

Brody nodded. "You didn't remember?" He asked, with half relieved, half disappointed.

Rachel shook her head. "No. But thank you." She smiled weakly at him. "And I apologize for the inconvenience."

"No problem at all." Brody gave her a lopsided smile and squeezed her hand. Then he picked up a folk and handed it out to her. "Let's eat."

Rachel took the folk from him as she nodded. "D-did I do something I wouldn't have done? I mean, did I say something I shouldn't have said?" Fidgeted, she asked looked at him through her eyelashes.

Brody chuckled. "Nah, you were just being cute." He sipped his coffee.

"I don't think I was." Rachel chewed the inside of her cheeks as she felt her cheek go pink before making an excuse for herself. "I've never been drunk that much." She averted her eyes from him and kept poking her fruit salad.

"It happens to anybody." Brody encouraged.

"Thank you, Brody." Rachel acknowledged.

Brody just nodded at Rachel with a smile. And they continued eating their breakfast in a comfortable silence for a while.

"Your dry cleaning got delivered to my aunt's apartment yesterday instead of yours." Brody broke the silence. "I mean, I think it's yours." He picked the white halter neck mini dress with cherry print wrapped with a plastic bag off his opposite side of the stool Rachel was sitting before holding it out to her.

"Aaron's always getting 5A and B confused." Rachel explained as she received her cleaning from Brody. "Thanks, anyway. I really caused trouble for you."

"I didn't anything…" Brody stopped himself from finishing his sentence since something started bothering him as she mentioned the delivery man was always knocking on the wrong door. "Always is he?" He frowned.

"Yeah. I'm forever getting giant bags of Nature's Logic delivered to my door." Rachel giggled in an innocent manner. But she asked as she noticed something clouded his features. "What's wrong?"

"Um, nothing." Brody smiled as he thought she didn't need to worry. "This restaurant serves good food, don't you think?" He changed the subject. "I want to try some vegan menu next time, or do you care to recommend your favorite vegan restaurants?" He paused before going for it. "We can go out for a dinner next time."

Rachel narrowed her eyes, trying to suppress her excitement (but her nostrils flared). "You really want to try vegan food?"

"Why not?" Brody shrugged.

Rachel looked down and nodded, sipping her orange juice. "Okay."

"Okay?" Brody asked to make sure.

"Hmm-hmm." Rachel chewed the inside of her cheeks to pretend to be cool. "I'm not sure you'll like it." She added. "But I hope you will."

A lopsided grin appeared on his face. "Me too, Rach, me too."

* * *

As if everything up till yesterday seemed to suddenly disappear, Finn was striding away after the teachers' meeting, grinning on his face. He decided to walk to the Union Square to take Lexington Avenue Express instead of Seventh Avenue Express to go to Bronx as usual. He didn't even care that people passing by him threw a wired look at him because he couldn't help.

His face however changed into a bothered look as he got closer to the 40th precinct station where Puck was serving. He was not attempting to solve the Mrs. Weston's case. What was bugging him, whether or not there were possibilities that the unknown criminal might have stopped by the wrong apartment.

"Though we aren't in charge of this case, I've got some information. But…" Puck said in a low voice, leading Finn out of the station, "it's confidential. You're not allowed to access the information." He premised. "So this is strictly between us, and I'll give it to you just as the reporters have already known, okay?"

Finn nodded as they entered a local bar nearby the station and chose to sit at table on the corner of the bar.

"First of all, there was no sign of break-in or illegal entrance to home." Puck informed deliberately as he beckoned a bartender to bring them two beers on tap. "Outside lock not tampered with. Door unlocked, according to neighbor. And doctors said that the victim was struck on the back of the head with blunt object…" Puck held his tongue as he saw a waiter approaching them. After the waiter left, he resumed offering the information. "The object is possibly small-caliber pistol." He sipped his beer before continuing. "Assault occurred approximately twelve hours before discovery of the victim."

Finn tilted his head to one side. "So, the attacker wasn't confused 5A and 5B."

Puck shook his head affirmatively. "That's the general idea."

Relieved, Finn grabbed his glass of beer and gulped it down. "Phew."

Puck arched his eyebrow. "You were worried your girl might have been a target, weren't you?" He repeatedly pushed Finn's shoulder with his finger. "You're totally smitten."

"She's not my girl." Finn denied, brushing Puck's hand away. "But yes, I got worried when she mentioned a delivery guy was always confused her apartment and Mrs. Weston's."

"Judging from the crime scene, the assaulter is possibly the victim's acquaintance." Puck assured. "And some questions put to the doorman and neighbors revealed, a) no one called upon apartment 5A the night previous to the discovery of the victim, b) no one heard any sort of disturbance at or around 9 pm that evening." Puck also chugged down his beer. "And one more note." He added. "There were a number of the victim's clothing thrown across her bed, you know, as if previous to accident she had been trying to decide what to wear. She however was in nightclothes when she was found."

"What does it mean?" Finn asked, not understanding what his best friend was going to tell.

"Which means, it could be construed as another attack by the transvestite killer." Puck explained before calling out for a waiter to bring another rounds. "But it's the reporters' theory, you know, they're always trying to make something out of the fact to sell their pepars. But there is one major difference."

"Such as?" Finn leaned forwards.

"The transvestite killer actually kills his victims, and tends to stick around to make sure…" As Puck saw the waiter coming, he stopped conversing about the crime and changed the subject. "Speaking of your girl, is that true you chickened out to kiss her?"

Finn groaned. "I knew Quinn would tell you everything."

"Of course she would." Puck took their beer from the waiter before handed one of them out to Finn. "Just move your big fat ass, Huds. It's not like you've never fictionalized your identity. What was your one-night-stand code name again?" He chuckled, remembering Finn used to use 'Lando Calrissian' named after one famous character of _Star Wars_ in college. "I can't believe you actually succeeded at getting some chicks call you that name."

"Rachel's not a one-night-stand kind of girl." Finn folded his arms across his chest. "Besides, first of all, Luke Skywalker or Han Solo soon comes to the light. Secondly, Lando Calrissian is one of the coolest characters. He led the assault on the Death Star!" He defended before clearing his throat to go back to the subject. "Anyway, you were in the mid-sentence."

Puck nodded. "Where was I? Right, the transvestite killer tends to stick around to make sure the victims are dead after murder. And the victims have all been in their twenties, thirties and forties."

"That is… Mrs. Weston was unlikely to be mistaken for a younger woman." Finn concluded.

"Yep." Puck sipped his beer. "Well, that's it. They got nothing more right now. Of course if the old lady croaks, that'll change things. Unless that happens, that's being treated as an interrupted robbery." He stretched himself on the chair. "Wanna come to my place to have another drink?"

"I'd like to but no thanks." Finn finished his second beer. "I have to prepare for school and walk Rusty."

"You're totally whipped…" Puck laughed before adding. "By that dog."

"I gotta go." Finn, ignoring Puck's statement, pulled out his wallet out of the back pocket before putting down a twenty dollar bill on the table. "Thank you for sharing the information." With that he stood up and walked out of the bar.

"Anytime." Puck cried out at Finn's back. "Good luck with that girl or the dog, Lando!"

* * *

"Is she, what, dissociative identity disorder or something?" Santana whispered in Tina's ear who just shrugged, being seeing Rachel being like over the moon since the two days after she had left the Mike's restaurant drunken, as she walked two steps behind Rachel who literally skipped into Macy's. Then she called out to her from behind. "And why do we have to go shopping with you?"

Rachel whirled around, grinning at her friends. "He asked me out!" She clasped her hands across her chest, jumping up and down.

Tina joined Rachel's shriek and grabbed her hands, hopping up and down in a circle. Santana was just observing them calmly.

After a while, Rachel got calm down and smoothed her skirt before clearing her throat. "Well, he _kind of _asked me out to be honest."

"What do you mean by 'kind of'?" Tina asked, arching her eyebrow.

Rachel began to tell them about the morning of a few days ago. "Then he said we could go out for a dinner next time." She gazed afar with her twinkling eyes as if she was dreaming. "Don't you think that night and the breakfast thing were very sweet of him, do you?"

"Yeah, yeah." Santana rolled her eyes, saying in a boring tone.

"But you didn't remember what'd happened at Mike's?" Tina continued to ask. "And neither did you Brody put you to the bed?"

Rachel shook her head. "What happened at the restaurant? I remember Jesse got huge applause but…"

"I'll fill you in later." Santana interrupted before Tina could've told the story. "Well in that case…" She yanked Rachel's arm and led her into the right shop to buy a dress for a date.

What was not Rachel had expected, however, was that dresses Santana chose were a bit of prudish. She frowned, staring at the Latina quizzically.

"What are you looking at me like that?" Santana handed out another dress in order for Rachel to try. "You got a problem with this?" She nodded at the dress she was holding, which was very much alike as Rachel wore right now, which was a ditsy print pleat dress, white-based with brown and orange color mix, with collar and sleeves.

Rachel shifted her gaze from the dress in Santana's hands to her current outfit. "I though you didn't like this dress?" She pointed to her own dress. "Why do you think I wanted you to come with me to buy a new dress?" She folded her arms across her chest.

"Yeah, why are you choosing those kinds of dress? You're always saying she dresses like a grandmother and toddler at the same time." Tina put a word in for Rachel, not understanding Santana's intention.

"Alright." Santana sighed. "To be frank, I can't trust that guy even though you've been saying he was not like what I was informed." She put the dress back into the original place before giving Rachel and Tina everything she learnt about Brody.

"Brody Weston is everything our mothers – except for my mother – warned us about. He has his own modus oprandi. Very intense until he gets a girl into bed, then once he enjoys the piece of butt enough, he gets bored and starts backing off. The girl, on the other hand, gets besotted by the time, and starts thinking why the formerly attentive guy stops calling. Pathetic scenes naturally ensue, in which cries of 'Why haven't you called?' and 'Who was that woman I saw you with the other night?' are answered with 'Stop suffocating me' and 'I'm not ready for a commitment.' Oh, and did I mention the time Brody made all the models on a _Sports Illustrated_ swimsuit shoot ice down their nipples because they weren't sticking out enough?"

Rachel gasped widening her eyes as Tina wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"I have spent time with him and he's nothing like that, Santana." Rachel defended. "Maybe he used to be, but he's changed. Besides, he didn't even kiss me!"

"Haven't you thought he didn't kiss you by choice to get your attention, Berry?" Santana pushed, squinting and folding her arms across her chest. "One of his procedures, you know, to get in your panties?"

"Then why me?" Rachel questioned. "He's working with models around him. He could have anybody who has a perfect figure." She began to have a spasm of insecurity. "Why did he think he wanted to go out for a dinner with me?" She looked down, biting her lips.

"Rachel, _again_?" Tina, throwing her hand into the air, couldn't stand Rachel's lack of self-confidence when it came to her figure. "How many times do I have to say you're pretty and got killer legs and butt?"

Santana sighed. She just wanted to make sure that Brody wouldn't play with her innocence (which meant mostly physical) because all the information she got from those who had worked with him could never see what Rachel saw in him. Santana was definitely not prude, rather sexually liberated. But she respected Rachel's decision which she would wait for having sexual intercourse until she would find the one. What was Brody's intention, anyway? She could smell something. She should find out his real intention. However right now, she'd better back off and see what would happen to Rachel and Brody. "Well, maybe they exaggerated a little who he is like." She said in defeated. "But you'd better not lead him on in a slutty dress, Berry, until you're sure he's changed." She warned.

"But she has to play hard to get, right?" Tina suggested. "Which means, she must show her best physical qualities."

"Alright, let's get out of here to look for the right dress at another shop." Santana pointed to the shop on the opposite side.

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**Please review :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews! And thanks for the tip as to which name the narrator should use to refer to Finn as Brody. I've been thought about that kind of thing too, so I will try from now on (I'm sorry if it causes you to confusing).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its character.**

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**Chapter 7 – September 2013**

Finn was told that the day off was usually Mondays until the opening night. So he decided to take Rachel on this Monday to one of her favorite vegan restaurants named Blossom close enough to walk to, even though it was the day when the new academic year started. When he told her that he had made a reservation at 7:30 pm, she wanted to accompany him to go to the hospital where Mrs. Weston was being admitted, before their dinner.

Did you wonder why she said that? Well, because he carelessly said that he could have reserved a little earlier (since she had all day on Monday). Of course, she asked he had an appointment for work or something. He could have just said yes, but he thought he couldn't come up with some good explanation in case when she would ask him specifically about the fake occupation. So he made an excuse for going to visit his (once-upon-a-time-roommate's) aunt before picking her up at her door at 7 pm.

The truth was, he should be occupied with school things until 5 pm at the first day of school and was going to take a shower and prepare himself in a nice suit for a date (well, he didn't say to Rachel it was a date, but he definitely considered the dinner as a date) once he got home.

That was why he and Rachel were walking over towards NYU Langone Medical Center right now after their subway ride. Needless to say, Finn had to preen himself in a rush with no shower (dammit!) because of her suggestion.

When they were about to walked into the room where Mrs. Weston was lying on the bed in coma, Finn's cell phone started vibrating. He frowned as he saw an unknown number flashing on the screen. 808? Was that the area code for… Hawaii? Which meant that the call was from Brody? What a bad timing!

"I'm sorry, I have to take this. It's from work." Finn said smiling apologetically. "Could you go ahead?" With that he walked off to the end of the corridor. He nervously took the call. "Hello?"

"_Hi! This is Brittany, Brody's friend._"

Finn momentarily held his phone away from his ear as he heard a chirpy voice from the other end of the line. "H-hi. It's Finn." He heard the girl's giggle.

"_Brody's in the hot tub, but he asked me to ask how it went with that weird lady who has the dog problem. Did she believe you're Brody? It's weird to be calling you, seeing as how I don't even know you. What is the weather like in New York?_"

"Um… it's nice."

"_Wonderful! Here is nice too._"

Brittany continued in no time as Finn was about open his mouth to say something.

"_Brody and I saw some performing cats today. It was crazy! But I'm sure Lord Tubbington could do that too, actually do more!_"

While Finn was wondering who the hell Lord Tubbington was, the girl named Brittany kept chatting.

"_Oh, and yesterday we went to dolphin excursion to swim with them. Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks? Brody said I was wrong! I know he was being silly because everyone knows it, right?_"

"Huh?" Finn didn't know how to respond. "Um… sure." He ran a hand through his hair.

"_I'm glad you agreed with me. You should tell him. Anyway, Brody says to ask you to call him here at the hotel instead of texting to report how the thing's going with his aunt. The number is 808-88X-XXXX. Ask for the Pohuehue cottage. Pohuehue is a flower if you want to ask. It grows all over here! Uh-oh, I have to go. Brody's coming. Bye!_"

After having talked his ear off, the girl named Brittany hung up on him. Dumbfounded, he stood there for a while. He shook his head to come back to the earth and asked a nurse who happened to pass by to give him a piece of paper and a pen. The nurse kindly tore off a sheet of paper from her small note pad and shoved it with her pen into his hand flirtatiously. Unaware of her meaningful look, he quickly wrote down the number before he would forget, then handed the pen back to the nurse.

When finally Finn approached the room of Mrs. Weston, a beautiful voice stopped him from entering. He thought he saw an angel when he first met her. He was right. She must definitely be an angel. He was too captivated by the voice to notice that she had already finished singing and begun to talk to the comatose woman.

"… I don't know what happened between you and your nephew, and I'm not gonna pry, but Brody's a really sweet, caring, nice person, Mrs. Weston. When you wake up, I hope you'll see it in him too."

Aside from the fact that she called him Brody, Finn felt warm and fuzzy inside. He couldn't help smiling.

"Hey, sorry for the phone call." Finn called out to her from the doorway before stepping inside the room. "Were you singing to her? I heard you singing in the corridor."

Rachel nodded with a shy smile. "I heard people in comas can recognize voices, so I tried singing and talking to her. You know, I used to see her practically every day and sometimes I sang for her."

"You have a beautiful voice. I got goose bumps." Finn said with a lopsided smile, taking a folding chair from the corner of the room to sit next to her. "What was that?"

Even though Rachel had absolute confidence her voice, she couldn't help blushing at his compliment. "Thank you. It's a song from _Sweeney Todd_, _Not While I'm Around_." She saw him blinking a few times. "You've not seen musicals, have you?" She giggles.

Finn rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry." He didn't want to disappoint her since she was a Broadway actress. He should have tried to go see some when Kurt had asked.

"Don't be." Rachel still giggled. "I know many guys don't like musicals. But _Sweeney Todd_ is one of the greatest musicals. Even Tim Burton made it into a movie and Jonny Depp played the leading role."

"Does Jonny Depp sing?" Finn arched his eyebrow.

"He seems to be too humble to talk about his singing talent, but I think he did great job." Rachel opined. "Maybe you should watch that movie." Rachel paused before asking. "I have a DVD of the movie, so why don't you come over to watch, um, next time?"

Finn threw his trademark lopsided grin at her. "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Vegan food was not that bad than Finn had imagined.

Except for tofu.

He tried, really tried tasting it. But it tasted awful. Correction. It tasted _nothing_. Considering food _had_ to have its own flavor, tofu was not food. Which meant people shouldn't eat it, right? However the girl he warmed up to was sitting in front of him right now. It was their first date even if she didn't take it.

"How's everything?" Rachel asked.

"It's good." Finn forced himself to smile at her, attempting to have her not notice that he almost spat tofu up when he put it into his mouth.

Rachel narrowed her eyes suspiciously for a while before giggling. "You don't have to lie to me, Brody. I know you don't like tofu. You did not bite but swallow it with water."

Finn felt his ears turn pink with embarrassment, chewing the inside of his cheeks. "It's the truth that I said it's good."

"But?" Rachel encouraged him to tell the truth, examining an expression on his face.

"But," Finn paused before taking a deep breath. "I don't think I want to eat tofu again." He finally said in defeated.

Rachel giggled again. She reached for his hand to squeeze. "It's okay you don't like vegan food."

Relieved, Finn genuinely smiled at her and squeezed back her hand. But soon the next embarrassment came; His stomach growled. Yep, vegan food was definitely not for him. Vegetables couldn't get his big appetite satisfied (and it made him feel like he was a cow or something to be honest). Finn mentally cursed himself as he felt his cheeks reddened.

"Alright." Giggling, Rachel beckoned a waiter to wrap their food to go. "I know one of the best pizza in Manhattan nearby the Penn Station. Why don't we grab a bite there?"

"You eat pizza?" Surprised, Finn asked, being impressed at her action which she gave up the vegan dinner for him. He was about to pull his wallet out of his back pocket to put his credit card on the table before realizing he couldn't use it. He quickly fished out some dollar bills instead.

"I'm a vegan, but can't help loving cheese." Rachel shrugged. "Besides, they have vegan pizza too." Rachel saw him put his card back in his wallet, wondering why. "You don't have to pay, Brody, since you didn't eat that much." Rachel picked up her purse.

"No, no." Finn dismissed in a rush, grabbing her hand to stop, determined to keep her away from paying for the dinner. "This is a date and I'm a guy. It's enough for me to embarrass myself since you have to ditch the dinner here for me."

Smiling, Rachel felt warm inside hearing the word 'date.' "I'm not actually ditching the dinner since I don't think you want the box to go."

"Still. _I_ ruined the dinner date. I'm responsible for that." Finn insisted, mentally slapping his own face.

"Well, if you insist." Rachel put her purse down.

Then they strolled to the pizza place Rachel recommended. Despite the vegan dinner date utterly failed, the conversation between them went along swimmingly (the subject mostly was about her). Finn got to know a lot about Rachel. She was passionate, determined, and _very_ competitive when it came to singing and music. However her sad eyes cast down when he asked about her high school. She hesitated at first but finally said that she had annoyed most of people in her high school because of her determination and competitiveness. She also said that she had had to put up with bullying on a daily basis (she told him about the drawing on one of cubicles in school bathroom).

Finn couldn't believe that she had suffered from bullying. And he was surprised how insecure she was about her figure. She was caring, sweet and beautiful. And very _very_ talented obviously. Finn stared at her for a while. Her big brown eyes sparkled like a star, her hair shined all around her head like a halo and mile long legs that went all the way up from her red, inches above the knee length dress. He thought he would say yes whatever she asked (except for eating tofu). Had they actually _seen_ her? And had they heard her singing? He felt resentment at the way she had been treated.

Now they were walking back to their apartment. When they arrived at her door, Finn bored into her eyes before saying. "They're just jealous, you know."

Rachel shot up her head. "What?"

"The people in your high school." Finn elaborated. "You're beautiful and very talented, Rachel. You did make it to being on Broadway." He took her hands in his. "Don't let them get in your head."

Rachel looked up and stared at him adoringly for a while.

Finn couldn't help anymore as he saw her eyes blinking at him. He leaned down, cupped her face with his hands and captured her lips with his.

Rachel was surprised a little at first, but soon she got relaxed feeling his hands caressing her cheeks. She put her hands on his chest and responded him.

Finn put his hands gently on her hips as he felt her soft lips slowly move against his. When her lips slightly parted, he held her tiny body closer to him, thrusting his tongue into her mouth.

Rachel ran her fingers through his messy hair to pull him closer, her tongue brushing against his.

Soft and tender kiss got heated up and shifted into deep, intense and passionate one. When they broke the kiss to catch a breath and rested their forehead against each other's, Rusty barked loudly from inside of Mrs. Weston's apartment as if on cue.

"Rachel…" Finn whispered.

"You have to go, Brody. Rusty's waiting." With that, Rachel turned around and unlocked her door before facing him again. "Thank you for the lovely evening."

"Rachel, wait, we have to ta…" Finn cried out, but before finishing his sentence, she stepped inside of his apartment and closed the door. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. Rachel's calling him Brody at the last minute and Rusty's demanding to be walked dragged him into the reality. "Fuck." He held his hands up in the air.

Finn was officially in deep shit.

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**Please review :)**

**A/N: I actually love tofu unlike Finn, but I know it's true that some (or most?) of them have poor quality and it can't be helped there are those who don't like them.  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

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**Chapter 8 – September 2013**

Rachel had been like on cloud nine. Since the kiss she and Brody shared. _That_ kiss. She had not been kissed like that by anyone else, _ever_. She repeatedly touched her lips in an unconscious manner, grinning from ear to ear. She didn't care that Tina or Santana said constantly that it caused them to feel nauseous. Because she didn't care.

It however was short lived. Brody seemed to have been busy since their first kiss. He went out every morning past seven, casually dressed but weirdly having on a tie (okay, she admitted she kept peeping). Was that something involved Save the Children fund? Somehow he always seemed not to want to talk about his job when she asked about it. She frowned.

What bothered her the most rather than that kind of thing was that he didn't reply to her text – _How about watching _Sweeney Todd_ in my apartment next Saturday?_ – yet. The cast and crew would get rare day off next Saturday since they would do the press preview the previous day. She read her own text over and over again. She didn't think that it was too eager. Or was it?

Rachel was generally accepted to be far from an expert when it came to relationship.

Her first love was Jonas Friedmann. Well, she was not sure it was 'love' or just 'crush' (probably the latter). He was a star quarterback in her high school. There was no way that every girl ignored his attractiveness. He was tall, good looking with beautiful green eyes and soft brown hair. Jonas was in the different social circle from Rachel's. He was the most popular guy in high school. She was in the bottom. She was nobody.

One day, oddly enough he smiled at her. Her heart skipped a beat. He did notice her presence! He helped her pick up her stuff scattering on the floor in the hall way when the other jocks pushed her into her locker!

She fell for him naturally. He started talking to her and eventually he asked her out. To say that she was surprised was understatement of the year when he first asked her out since she thought he was dating with a head cheerio who had a perfect figure, like big boobs, blue eyes and shiny blonde hair, even her height matched his perfectly. But he said that she was a bitch and wanted to spend time with her. She believed him.

She made out with him a lot in her house (she had never been to his place since he said her house was closer to school). Thinking back now, he was complacent when they made out. He never kissed her or held her in his arms in school. She thought that was normal for a teenage boy. What she thought something was wrong with their make out sessions was that she was the one to be wrong. She thought she had to improve her skills. She read some tips for making out (and sex just in case) in magazines and on internet for him. Of course, she researched.

She was too blind to detect his real intention. She thought he was different from the others.

He was not.

It was a game for him and his friends (jocks and cheerios).

One night at the junior prom, he dragged her into an empty class room. He pushed her down on a desk and started hovering over her. Though she had been thinking that eventually she would give her virginity to him, never thought she wanted to lose it in a public space. His kissing and sucking her neck made her head fog, ignoring the thought as to why he wanted to go all the way here and this day. She couldn't completely resist.

When she almost complied with his forcible manner but finally managed to stop him from going forward, she heard some laughter outside of the class room. She looked at the direction where the laughter came from over his shoulder. What she found was his friends' evil grin peeked out of the door glass (and she could see some of them handing dollar bills to the others).

She pushed him as hard as she could. She tidied her dress and demanded for him to explain what was going on. He somehow seemed angry with her not his friends. Then he said, '_You're always prancing around in those microscopic skirts like begging me to fuck. But you are a prude way more than I imagined._' With that he gestured for his friends to dismiss with his two fingers up in the air and left the class room draping his arm over his real girlfriend's shoulder.

To say that her senior year had been like living hell was understatement. She however kept holding her head high, enduring the bullying and humiliation, determined to prove to them in near future that she was not a loser but they were. And she swore herself she never ever threw herself at anyone until she completely trusted them.

In her senior year, she got to get along with one of her teammate in glee club named Gabriel Abraham. He was in a wheel chair and one of the victims who had suffered from bullying like Rachel. They helped each other and hung out a lot after school. You could say he was her boyfriend at that time. But other than kissing (just pecking), genuinely platonic. He understood why she didn't want their relationship to be more intimate. She really appreciated it. He still was a good friend after graduation, though he lived in LA now (he went to UCLA to be a director of films).

After entering NYADA, she dated with a few guys here and there. But she was too busy with school work to spare time for devoting herself to one guy. Until she met Jesse.

The rest was history.

Rachel took a deep breath and started thinking of Brody. She knew she fell for him already, not that she would admit to him (and her friends) since she wasn't sure he felt the same way as she did. But he kissed her like he really meant it. Just one kiss but she felt it. Unlike with Jonas (always demanding), unlike with Jesse (always narcissistic) either.

"Rachel?" Tina called out, breaking her thought she was being deep in. "Why don't you invite him to the party after press performance? We can find out what he really thinks then."

"I don't know…" Rachel hesitated. "He even didn't bother to reply to my text." She sighed. "Do you think there's a possibility that he's not single? I never asked him about it."

Tina frowned. "How did you say such a thing? He walks his aunt dog every morning and night, he asked you out, and he kissed you, right?" She put her hand on her shoulder.

"But, like I said before, he could have anyone." Rachel looked down at her hands on her laps. "The more I get to know him, the more I realize he really could have anyone. I don't see why he's single. I don't see why he wants to hung out with _me_." She said in a low voice.

Tina sighed. "Rachel, what have you done to our diva? Where is your confidence? You're an independent, attractive woman inside and out. Of course he wants to be with you." She squeezed her shoulder before pulling her to give a hug. "Just ask him."

"Thanks, Tina." Rachel hugged back with teary eyes. "Okay, I'm going to text him about the party." She wiped her eyes with her thumb before they could have threatened on her cheeks.

Tina turned her head towards the corner of the stage where Santana with concerned look on her face was standing, mouthing 'falling in love.'

* * *

It was not like he had avoided Rachel. It was not, really. He really wanted to spend more time with her, let alone kiss her. _That_ kiss. He'd never felt like that before, with anyone else, _ever_. He thought he could kiss her, hold her in his arms forever. If he could, he would carry her in his pocket to everywhere.

She was different from any other girls who he had hooked up with. Her smile, her sound of laughter, her cuteness, every little thing of her made his life colorful. She was the first person who he thought of when he woke up. She was the last person who he thought of when he went to bed. He knew he already fell for her, not that he could admit because he had to pretend to be Brody.

That was why he was terrified now. If he was with her, he couldn't stop himself. He wanted more. But he couldn't. Kurt warned over and over he should tell her the truth. Easier said than done. Maybe if he'd never lied to her about it in the first place. Maybe if right from the first moment he met her he'd say like this; _Listen, I am not Brody Weston. Brody couldn't make it. He feels really bad about what happened to his aunt, so he sent me in his place._ But he didn't. He blew it from the very beginning. Now it was too late to tell her the truth because anything else he ever tried to tell her, she would think he was lying about that too. Maybe she wouldn't admit it, but in the back of her mind, it would always be there; _Maybe he's lying about this too._

Besides, Brody was bugging (threatening) him constantly.

And, to be honest, a tiny piece of the reasons why he didn't make up his mind to tell her the truth was because of his last name. He didn't change his name when her mother remarried Burt Hummel. But when girls got to know he was one of the Hudson-Hummel clans, their attitude got colored completely.

Though it was true that his grandfather was a wealthy man and left him money in his will as trust fund, nobody noticed he was James Hudson Senior's only grandchild unless he volunteered the information. But after joining the Hummel clans, that was the different story. He had experienced it so many times. They didn't see who he really was, what he was like. They saw just his name in him.

He knew Rachel was not going to change even if she knew his real name. He believed she was not that girl. That was not an issue. He just felt comfortable with the way she saw what he was like without prejudice (of course aside from his fake name).

Jenny Landstrom was one of them. She was just the beginning of what he would suffer from. He met Jenny in the field of his school. He was a sophomore and the second string quarterback. She was a freshman and a cheerleader of one of the rival schools in Brooklyn. She was tiny (okay, he admitted tiny girls were his weakness) but seemed full of confidence with shiny blonde hair and rosy cheeks.

That beautiful girl somehow walked over to him to say 'hi.' She said that he would soon shine with his team as a star quarterback. When he asked how she did think of that, she leaned down and whispered in his ear, putting her hand on his arm, '_I don't think. I know it. You have really great arms._'

The sixteen-year-naïve-boy's heart soared. He didn't know why she was so sure, but he thought that she somehow believed in him. He plunked up the courage to ask her out despite Kurt was repeatedly warning (Finn didn't like Kurt was always right). Actually, as she predicted, he was promoted to the first string quarterback a year later.

Thinking back now, she was self-indulgent. One day she was really affectionate, the other day she was not in the mood. Back in his mind, he knew she was driving him nuts. But he ignored the second part of her since she could be really sweet when she wanted to be. When she was sweet, her smile made his heart skip a beat.

The things between them started changing when he joined the glee club. Shortly before he joined the glee club, their relationship got more intimate. She was sexually bold unlike him. It didn't matter to him whether she was a virgin or not. She was beautiful with a great figure. It was no wonder that she'd had boyfriends before him.

The problem was that he wasn't much confident about his own figure and he was a virgin (he was not sure Jenny knew those things, he was too shy to confide them). Also he had been more cautious about having sex since one of his best friends – Randy Cornwell, a son of a big pharmaceutical company's CEO and star wide receiver of the team (Puck was the second string) – knocked up his girl.

He didn't know why she was so upset, either when he said his had joined the glee club, when he said he wanted to wait for the right time to have sex, or when he said he wanted to be a teacher. She got to be more and more in a bad mood. He tried to bring her good side back so hard.

They finally slept together at the night of his junior prom (of course he used a protection). About three weeks later, she made a phone call in the middle of the night to ask him to come over saying she wanted to talk to him in person. He was so worried about her because her voice was trembling like she was sobbing. Sure it was, she was crying hard when he rushed to her parents' house in Brooklyn (he climbed a tree to enter her room).

Then she dropped the bomb.

She was pregnant.

Although the light went out of his eyes, he cared about her. He thought he loved her. He soothed her for a while saying he would do anything for her and go to the doctor with her. She however weirdly turned down his proposal and kept him away from her doctor appointments.

One day, he was in the hospital on the lurk to confront her as to what was going on. When he pressed her for an answer, she finally confessed the baby was not his, but Randy of all people. As it turned out, she was double-dipping, ironically as was Randy (What a prick! He impregnated girls _twice_!).

To say he was shocked was understatement. To make matters worse, she launched a counterattack when he censured her for her (and his best friend's) betrayal; _You're not smart enough to be a congressman like your step father! You're not good enough to be picked in the draft! You're such a coward to have sex! What's worse, you're terrible in bed!_

That definitely traumatized him about girls.

Finn ran a hand through his hair in frustration, recalling his most horrible memory. He looked down at his cell phone in his hand and scrolled the screen. Should he answer her texts? Yes he should. He didn't want her to think he was playing her. But he was terrified what would happen when she found out the truth. She would probably hate him and never see him again.

When he finally stood up from the sofa and entered the guest room, he found one of the cats – he assumed it was Ms. Bonaparte – lying on the floor. He tilted his head to one side, wondering something was wrong with her. Ms. Bonaparte was the more active and animated of Mrs. Weston's two cats. He wrinkled his nose with a bad smell as he approached her. Then he saw something underneath the bed. He gasped. She had puked for some reason.

"Oh, shit!"

* * *

Being hasty, Finn banged on Rachel's door, completely oblivious that it was almost midnight. Rachel, who was drifting off, practically jumped out of the bed with the loud knocks. She rushed to the front door, feeling her heart rate go up, thinking something horrible would happen to her parents or somebody she was close to.

Surprised, she saw Brody standing with a worried look as she opened the door. He was the last person she thought to visit her since he didn't reply her texts. "W-what's wrong?" She managed to ask, folding her arms across her chest (not because she was angry at him but she just didn't wear a bra in her sleep).

"I-I'm sorry, t-to bother you so late." He stammered with reddened cheeks since he realized she was sleeping (he saw her perky nipples through her tank top before she hid them with her arms). "Um, it's Ms. Bonaparte. Something's the matter with her." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Would you mind coming to take a look?"

Rachel nodded and rushed to Mrs. Weston's guest room. She ran up to her as she saw her lying limply. Ms. Bonaparte however didn't seem to want anybody touching her. When Rachel tried she just growled.

Then Rachel noticed some dark brown particles scattering nearby the vomit underneath the bed. She reached for them and picked them up. They were chocolate covered raisens. "Oh my God." She gasped. "We've got to get this cat to the hospital right away!" She walked over to Mrs. Weston's linen closet and got the cat carrier down from it before saying to fidgeted Finn who followed her. "Wrap her in a towel."

Finn got a towel and managed to bundle her up (poor Finn, he got several evil-looking scratches before accomplished it). Then they took Ms. Bonaparte to the veterinary where Rachel knew Mrs. Weston used to take her pets when she needed to.

The minute they walked in, Rachel gave the information for the VTs to need to know. She let out a sharp breath as the VTs took Ms. Bonaparte and rushed her off to the treating room. She plumped down on a chair in the waiting room, oblivious of Brody's presence because she came unglued.

"So, raisens or chocolate were the cause of…" Finn opened his mouth, scratching his head, standing in front of her.

Rachel shot up her head. "Oh, um, I think so. I'm sorry I didn't mean to put myself forward." She said apologetically.

Finn chuckled. "No, it's okay. I couldn't explain as well as you did." He sat next to her. "And I should've been more careful."

"It's not your fault." Rachel put her hand on his knee. "I hadn't known which food you shouldn't feed cats until Mr. Bonaparte died. Even Mrs. Weston didn't know at that time." She gave a smile at him. "Besides, I'm sure you didn't feed her, she feed herself like Mr. Bonaparte."

"Mr. Bonaparte?" Finn asked.

Rachel nodded. "Ms. Bonaparte's brother." She giggled before covering her mouth with her hand. "Oh, it's inappropriate for me to laugh."

Finn chuckled again. "What happened to Mr. Bonaparte? He died eating chocolate covered raisens?"

"Unfortunately."

Then Rachel told him Mr. Bonaparte's fatal encounter with chocolate covered raisens. "When Mrs. Weston held the funeral, she asked the neighbors to come and send a donation in lieu of flowers after Mr. Bonaparte's demise." She didn't bother to hide her giggles this time. "But some of them refused the donation and Mrs. Weston got furious about it." She remembered Mrs. Weston persisted how helpful her cat had been for rodent control for weeks to her neighbors. Rachel knew the truth was that Mrs. Weston wanted some distraction from a grief, not a donation.

Finn arched his eyebrow before saying. "Wow, she's quite a woman, isn't she?"

Rachel couldn't decide that his remark about his aunt was from their discord or there were some other reasons. "I don't mean to take sides, but Mrs. Weston had been really lonely since her husband passed away and her dog and cats had consoled her." She wanted Brody and his aunt to come around when Mrs. Weston woke up out of her coma. "I think she was happy to hear your voice, you know, when we visited her."

"I hope so." Was all Finn could say. He felt a mix feeling, guilty about pretending to be her nephew, anger at her real nephew and admiration for Rachel.

"Rachel…" When Finn began to speak, he heard someone call out for him '_Hey, Finn, what are you doing here?_' He shot up his head to look for a guy who called him his real name. "Oh, Sam, _Nga, Kaltxì_." He punctuated and put a very hard stress on the last two words which were only ones in Na'vi he remembered. Sam forced every friend of his to learn the weird language on a daily basis in college. He couldn't believe himself he actually remembered and used them. He almost rolled his eyes at himself.

Sam was taken aback and threw a weird look at him.

At the very moment, the veterinarian's coming out and calling 'Mr. Weston?' which saved Finn. He jumped out of his chair. "That's me." He rushed up to the vet. Rachel followed him.

The vet told them Ms. Bonaparte suffered from acute renal failure and dialysis and a few overnight stays would be necessary or the cat would definitely die. The vet also said that the cat would need to be infused every other day after discharging.

And finally they were told the bill.

$1,700? $1,700 for a cat? Rachel dropped her jaw open.

Finn just nodded, reached for his wallet and pulled out his credit card before realizing he couldn't use it and put it away quickly. "Um, I forgot all my cards are maxed out." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll just go to the bank machine and get cash."

Dumbfounded, Rachel put her hand on his arm before managing to suggest. "You can't get that much cash from a bank machine in a single day. Let me put it on my card and you can pay me back later."

"Absolutely not." Finn refused before turning his head to ask the vet to wait before going over the cashier to arrange a payment plan.

Rachel was left in the hospital… with the guy named Sam who held a dog with a bandaged paw. The awkward silence floated between them. She felt the blonde guy staring at her. As she was about to open her mouth in order to break the awkward silence with some courage, the deputy owner of Ms. Bonaparte returned.

After the payment had been paid and the blonde guy had left, Rachel ventured to ask as they walked back to their apartment. "Why did the guy call you Finn?"

"Um…" Finn nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Acturally, all the people who are very close and important to me call me Finn."

Rachel blinked and looked at him quizzically.

Finn continued. "My grandfather insisted on choosing his own name for me when I was born despite my parents already picked up a name 'Finn'. There was a feud between Granpa and my dad, and my parents got to call me Finn nonetheless."

It was not a total lie. His grandfather didn't like every little thing his dad Christopher did and his dad did things that rubbed his father up the wrong way too. Even though his parents managed to name him Finn (of course Finn didn't tell Rachel this part), the crucial damage soon came to them when his dad joined the army. Sadly they never met halfway.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Rachel took his hand in her and squeezed it.

Finn stared at her hand for a while before looked into her warm eyes. "I want you to call me Finn too." _Oh God, what I am doing?_ "I don't like my name Brody."

"You really want me to call you Finn?" Rachel asked to make sure. He wanted her to be one of them? The important people to him? She chewed the inside of her cheeks. "Okay. I'll do that, Finn."

Finn pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry I didn't answer your texts. I've been busy, so…" He said in her hair.

Rachel wrapped her arms around his torso, smiling in his chest. "It's okay." She sighed contently. "I've missed talking to you, Finn."

Finn tightened his arms around her. "I've miss you too, Rach." For now, just for now, he wanted to feel her warmness, putting the whole Brody thing aside.

Even though he knew karma was a bitch.

* * *

**Please preview :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N/: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews! Actually when I thought I was going to write this story, Rachel and her friends' scene in this chapter was the first thing that I came up to my mind. I hope you guys will like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 9 – September 2013**

"You really have to go?" Rachel looked up at the 6'3" photographer with big brown twinkled eyes, hoping he would change his mind.

It took a little time for Rachel to get used to calling him Finn. But they got to have dinner together these few nights in her or his apartment since Ms. Bonaparte accident (Finn waited for her coming home around at 9 or sometimes past 10 pm – he had to snack around 6 or 7 pm though – and Rachel decided to partially give up her diet routine), so she didn't feel like something was not quite right any more.

At this moment, they were outside of La Rivière where the cast and crew were holding the private party after the press preview. Though Finn dropped by as he had promised to Rachel, he couldn't stay with her whole night.

When Rachel asked him to come to the party, Finn got to be in a panic a little since he oddly felt like he had known someone who was one of the cast in the show when he googled the official website.

His luck however seemed to still be on his side. There was nothing to worry about. Nobody seemed to know him. Not only that, but they all seemed to welcome him warmly (Kurt would kill him if he told him he'd met a bunch of Broadway people). He actually enjoyed the party and Rachel's company even though he didn't know anything about musicals.

But right now, he had to leave halfway through.

Finn wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her head. "I'm sorry, Rach. Ms. Bonaparte's not feeling well in spite of regularly receiving infusion fluid" He sighed. "And Rusty's waiting for me too."

"I know." Rachel leaned her head on his chest. "I wish I could go home with you."

Finn pulled himself from her rubbing her arms up and down with his large hands. "We have all day tomorrow, right?" He looked down at her with a lopsided smile.

Rachel lightened up, smiling at him. "Yes we do."

"Alright, I gotta go." Finn leaned down and gently pressed his mouth on her before reluctantly pulling himself from her. He hailed a cab and turned to face Rachel one last time. "Good night, Rachel. Have fun." With that he got into the cab.

"Good night, Finn. See you tomorrow." Rachel waved a hand and stood there for a while until the cab disappeared from her sight.

* * *

When Rachel returned to inside of the restaurant, Tina standing on a chair clinked her glass with a fork to get an attention. "Guys, let's get down the business!" She mirthfully declared.

The cast and crew in the restaurant (and Mike) who looked getting excited began gathering around the table where Tina was standing.

Rachel approached her best friend, looking over the people gathering. "What's this all about?"

"You'll see." Tina winked at her, smirking.

As Tina was about to resume speaking to the people, Blaine, who was a character of Rod, walked into the restaurant since he had to stay longer at the theater to deal with his puppet problem. "Did I miss something?"

"No, you made it right on time!" Tina beckoned him to come over. "You missed an opportunity to meet Brody guy though."

"What? Dammit!" Blaine snapped his fingers, pretending to be vexatious dramatically. "Only if I did know he was coming!"

"The fun part has not yet started." Artie, a character of Trekkie, chimed in.

"Okay, let's get started." Blaine rubbed his hands excitedly before realizing something was missing. "Wait. Where's Santana?"

As if on cue, Santana and two middle aged men in tow entered the restaurant.

Surprised, Rachel widened her eyes. "Dad! Daddy!" She ran to her parents. "What are you doing here?" She asked, hugging each of them respectively. "Not that I'm complaining. But I thought you were coming next month for the opening night?"

"Oh, Princess. I'm really happy for you." Hiram hugged his beloved daughter again with teary eyes.

Rachel tilted her head to one side in his daddy's arms, looking at the other parent questioningly.

"We got a phone call from Tina the other day." Leroy put a word in, patting his significant other's shoulder.

Rachel frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Tina cleared her throat and called out for them. "We have everyone here. Shall we start?" She saw them nodding as Rachel, Rachel's dads and Santana approached the table. "Okay, we happened to meet Brody today…"

"Wait, what? He was here?" Santana cut in before turning her head towards Rachel. "You didn't tell me he was going to come!" She folded her arms across her chest. She already was a bit in a bad mood since Tina had forced her to pick Rachel's dads up at the airport instead of having the time to hook up in the backstage at the empty theater with Dani who she was currently casually dating with. Furthermore, she had to miss a chance to size up the bipolar guy? This was _not_ happening to her.

"Except for you, Blaine and Mr. Berrys," Tina raised her voice, ignoring Santana's glare. "We luckily happened to meet Brody, so I believe it gets easier for us to discuss."

"Discuss what?" Rachel felt a bad feeling.

"You and Brody, of course." Tina blithely announced.

"What?" Rachel widened her eyes.

"Rachel, we have a lot of things to do for our wedding. Tina's not gonna be able to focus on it unless you and that guy are official." Mike pleaded.

"That's not important here, Mike!" Tina scolded at her fiancé. "Anyway," Tina looked over the cast and crew. "We all know Rachel and Brody have started dating. They already shared kisses as far as I'm concerned. But she's been a little unstable emotionally for some reason. In order to iron out the issue, we need to discuss their next step." She beamed at Rachel. "You know what I mean."

Rachel hung her mouth open. "What? Y-you mean… sex?" She swallowed thickly before managing to speak. "That's none of your business!"

"Yes it is." Blaine cut in, saying matter-of-factly. "We're working on Broadway. Theater people are always mingling with each other. We all know each other's sex life. _Of course_ your sex life is our business."

"Not that I think you have a sex life though." Artie added, smirking. "You're like a rare species in this industry, Rachel."

"Yup. Even Emma overcame her OCD and allowed Will to be in her bed."

Most of the cast and crew exclaimed – some of them clapped their hands approvingly – as Blaine gave new information. Santana rolled her eyes as Mr. Schuster pulled Ms. Emma Pillsbury, a character of Mrs. T, into him and kissed her head. Emma looked down bashfully.

Rachel gasped, feeling her face reddened. "Oh God, this is so embarrassing." She buried her face in her hands. "No, _beyond_ embarrassing."

"Yeah, no match for the love letter she grammatically corrected." Santana, who didn't like where this meddling was going to, murmured.

Hiram patted his daughter's shoulder. "Rachela, don't be so embarrassed. You're a grown woman. It's not big of a deal for you to have sex with a guy you're dating."

Rachel dropped her jaw. "Daddy!" She shifted her eyes to her other parent. "Dad, say something!" She pleaded.

Leroy just shrugged. "It's about time, Princess. If you need, we'll arrange a doctor appointment for you."

"Oh God." Rachel sank herself down in a chair, her face in hands.

Tina clapped her hands. "Let's put it to a vote, better have sex on the right side, better not on the left."

Everyone started moving to the direction where they agreed about. Most of them, included Rachel's parents, were settled on the right, but Santana and Jesse (of course) on the left.

"Okay, I understand Jesse's there." Blaine nodded at the other side. "But, you, Santana? I thought you were the one who have taken the lead to persuade Rachel to have a little fun."

Santana rolled her eyes. "Oh, Pony. Believe me, you know nothing about me."

"This is ridiculous." Jesse folded his arms across his chest. "She and I were dating for more than six months, but I barely past gaining knowledge." He muttered.

"Jesse!" Rachel hissed. "My fathers are here!" She looked at her ex-boyfriend in horror.

"We're fine." Hiram dismissed with a wave of his hand.

"Is his opinion a valid?" Artie asked, nodding at Jesse. "Didn't he take care of his sexual urges with another woman while he and Rachel were exclusive?"

"Artie's right." Mike chimed in, nodding affirmatively. "That's not nice, Mr. Marvelous." He would never forget his arrogant attitude when he and Tina and Rachel and Jesse went out on a double-date.

Jesse glared at Artie, then Mike before facing away in a sullen manner.

Rachel shut her eyes and massaged her temples. _Is this embarrassing or humiliating? Maybe both. No, definitely both._ She thought. She couldn't believe her dads not only joined this meddling but seemed like they gave her the push to have sex with Brody aka Finn too?

She would be lying if she said she didn't think about having sex with him. Thanks to Ms. Bonaparte, she felt getting closer to him each night. His warm amber eyes boring into her, his large hands gripping her waist, his clean and musky smell, many kisses they had shared… she was not going to lie (but never said out loud) her knees got weakened.

But still.

She shook her head to get herself out of the thought.

"So Rachel, anything you want to ask?" Mr. Schuster asked with a grin. "It would be a shame to put such a good opportunity to waste, you know."

"About what?" Rachel frowned.

"Let me cite an example." Blaine put a word in. "Raise your hand if you usually sleep with a guy or a girl or whoever on the third date."

Rachel saw a few hold up their hand in the air before asking unconsciously. "The seventh date?"

Nobody moved.

Rachel inquired again. "The tenth?"

Nothing.

"On the first date?" Blaine interrupted, chuckling.

Almost everyone raised their hand. To be surprised (or not surprised any more) Rachel's dads included.

"Yup, Rachel, the so-called 'dating rule,'" Blaine gestured a quotation mark with his fingers, "is just one of the urban myths."

"But Brad doesn't hold a hand up." Rachel noticed he, one of the band members, a pianist, didn't respond to any questions. She thought he would be like Rachel. "You wait for the right time, right? Brad?" She desperately asked.

The middle-aged man with glasses and short boxed beard made a face. "No." Simple and firm answer came from his mouth.

"What? You mean, you ever haven't…"

"No." Brad corrected before Rachel could've finished. "I have sex before dating."

Tina wrinkled her nose. "Okay, I'm regretting this." She whispered in Mike's ear. Mike shook his head, rolling his eyes.

"So what?" Rachel countered, looking over the people in the restaurant. "Every person is different. What's wrong for me to wait for the right time?" Nobody knew what she'd had to experience in high school.

"Um, to spice up your stage performances?" Artie answered, gaining affirmative nods from some of them.

"You think you have a point?" Santana finally opened her mouth. "Some of your private experiences help your performance, yes. But think about it. Have you never heard her singing? Or seen her acting? Does anyone know Berry's failed to convey her emotion? With having sex or not, she can spice up her performance in her own way." She didn't like to admit out loud that Rachel was a great performer. She didn't want to inflate her inner diva when it came to performing. But this meddling was too much. Besides, she still suspected the Brody guy.

"Aw, Santana…" Rachel, throwing an appreciative smile at her friend, was about to rush into her to give a hug.

Santana held her hand up in the air to stop her from whatever Rachel was going to do.

"Rachel," Leroy put his hand on his daughter's shoulder, "when you break up with the boy, you should marry her." He suggested seriously.

Blaine cleared his throat. "Alright, Santana has a point." He admitted. "But nothing bad about having sex, let alone thinking about sex. You know, 'right time' means the time when it feels good. Not always necessarily 'L' word."

"Look who's talking, Bowtie." Santana admonished. "I know you've ambushed a GAP guy and serenaded him out of place. I believe you're not one to talk about 'right time.'" She smirked seeing Blaine go red.

"Rachel, I didn't mean to embarrass you." Tina put her hand on Rachel's arm. "I just… I've never seen you like this before. Unlike your last relationship," She ignored Jesse's protest, "You're in love. I know it. I saw the way you looked at him. And the way he looked at you, too."

Mike nodded. "I heard from Tina what Santana said about him, but I was all wrong about him. I think he's really a nice guy." He earned 'Yeah,' or 'I think so too' or just nodding from many.

"Just so you know, he has our blessing, Princess." Hiram, who was impressed with hearing about the boy her daughter currently was into, declared happily.

"Hiram, you're getting ahead of yourself." Leroy admonished.

"I just wanted you to be happy, Rachel." Tina said apologetically.

"I know, Tina." Rachel heaved a sigh.

Rachel was not going to die virgin. And she felt embarrassed though, their meddling was a kind of good peg to resume thinking a relationship involved sex. But she and Finn had just started dating. He was not her boyfriend (yet). Many of the cast and crew said they had sex on the first date, but she could never do the same as they did.

"The show is over." Santana stood up, clapping her hands. "Are we gonna discuss something more important like Brad's sex life? Or call it a night?" She looked over the cast and crew with glaring eyes. Most of them just shrugged and put their glass on the table. "Alright, court is adjourned."

* * *

Finn groaned lying on the bed as his cell phone went off. He looked at the clock on the night table. It was 6:40 am yet. He grabbed his phone from the table and looked at the flashing screen. He cursed under his breath to his step brother for calling at such an early hour on Saturday.

"Kurt, you ruined my beauty sleep." Finn answered bluntly.

"Good morning to you too. Yes, I'm splendidly fine this morning. Thank you for asking." Kurt replied cheerfully.

"What do you want?" Finn demanded.

"I knew you forgot." Kurt snorted. "Hudson-Hummel breakfast? Every second Saturday?" He heard Finn's groan. "You know, Carole's lamented. When was the last time you called her? Or answered her call?"

"I know." Finn sighed. "But I've been busy." He excused.

"About what? School or Rachel?" Kurt pushed.

"I'll be in an hour." Ignoring his step brother's jab, Finn complied. "But I have something to do in the afternoon. So I'll leave when the breakfast's finished." He hung up on his brother.

* * *

When Finn walked into his parents' apartment in Upper East Side, he saw unexpected guests sitting at table chatting animatedly. "What the hell is this all about?" He asked Kurt expectantly, looking over his friends – Puck, Quinn, Sam and Mercedes – before depositing himself in a vacant chair.

"Finn, why didn't you tell me you met a girl?" Instead Kurt could answer, Carole was the one to start talking, not in an accusing way but with… teary eyes?

Finn closed his eyes sighing before turning his head to his brother. "Kurt."

"I'm not the one who told her!" Kurt huffed, smoothing his bang aside deliberately. "Don't lay everything at my door."

"Finn," Carole cut in. "I bumped into Sam yesterday and he told me about the night at the animal hospital."

Finn pinched the bridge of his nose. He was totally oblivious of his encounter with Sam (especially since Rachel got to call him Finn). He faced his friend from college. He saw Sam just shrug. "Mom, but did you need to invite them?" he complained, pointing to his friends.

"Oh, don't be shy." Carole waved her hand with a bright smile. "What's her name? How did you meet her? What does she do? What is she like? Why don't you ask her to join our dinner tonight?" She threw rapid-fire questions at her only child.

Finn groaned. "Mom…"

"What's wrong?" Carole asked questioningly.

Puck chuckled. "He met that girl under the _peculiar_ circumstance, Mrs. Hudson, like working undercover."

"Puck, what the hell?" Finn glared at his best friend.

"Oh." Carole's face slightly fell before regaining her control. "But it's not like you gave her a false name, like, when you were in college, is it?"

Finn hung her mouth open, staring at his mother in horror. "W-what? How did you know?" He scanned over the room. "Who did tell her?" His eyes met his step father's apologetic eyes.

"Sorry, son." Burt took off his well-worn cap and scratched his head before adjusting the cap. "You know, I can't hide anything from your mom."

"It's fine, Finn, I totally understand why you chose to do that." Carole assured. "Considering what the girl in Brooklyn has done to you." She smiled sadly at her son with tender eyes.

"Mrs. Hudson, I'm afraid to say that," Sam interrupted, "but I assume he's using a fake name this time too." He turned his head to Finn. "I don't think that was the same name as you used to use in college, right?" He earned a sharp kick from his girl sitting next to him under the table. "Aw!" He rubbed his shin.

Carole blinked a few times before letting out a sigh disappointed. "So, you just…"

"Mom, it's not like that." Finn interrupted, running a hand through his hair. Then he exchanged meaningful glances with his step brother. "I mean, yeah, I use a fake name, but I'm just doing my old friend favor." He reluctantly briefed his mother on the story omitting the marijuana part.

Not conceived, Burt frowned. "I don't understand why you have to take care of his aunt's pets." He scratched his cheek. "What's more incomprehensible is why you're a friend of his."

"He was just my roommate in college, not friend." Finn thoughtlessly murmured.

Burt shot up his head. "So he's using you." He sighed, shaking his head. "Son, I know you have a good heart, but don't be a cat's-paw." He warned. "The girl, Sam said you met, might be using you too."

"No! Rachel's not that kind of person!" Finn dismissed the misunderstanding waving his hand frantically. "She doesn't know Brody and she was kindly enough to take care of his aunt's animals instead of the heartless bastard."

"And he likes her." Puck, who had been listening to the conversation in amusement without saying anything, chuckled. "Mrs. Hudson, I wish you could see his face when he found out that the assaulter didn't intend to attack her." Ignoring his best friend glare, he added. "He's totally smitten."

"He was too nervous to kiss her." Quinn, who was being more absorbed in eating than joining the conversation, interpolated. She turned her head to Finn. "How did it go with her after that?"

Finn shut his eye to suppress his frustration and embarrassment.

"From what I've seen them at the vet, I assume he's not kissed her yet." Sam chuckled. "Oh, you kissed her, didn't you?" Seeing Finn shifting on his chair uncomfortable, he announced. "Let me see," he tapped his pouty lips with his forefinger, pretending to think hard. "After leaving the vet, right?" He smirked.

Finn flinched at Sam's assumption. Well, not assumption. He totally nailed it. How did he know? There was something written on his forehead? He felt ears go pink.

"You did kiss her as Brody?" Kurt widened his eyes. "Oh, you're so dead, Finn. What are you thinking? You should tell her the truth _now_!" He chided.

"Why?" Quinn cut in. "I don't think he should." She faced Finn, reaching for another piece of bread. "Don't tell her until after you've had sex with her. I'm serious. Because if you're good enough in bed, she won't care."

"Don't listen to the horny pregnant woman, Finn." Kurt cried out.

"Hmm." Burt folded his arms across his chest. "I think Quinn has a point." He leaned forward, looking at his step son. "Sex is important for a relationship, you know, your mom and I…"

"Dad!" Kurt cried as he plugged his fingers into his ears. "Lalalalalalalalalahhhhhh."

"Go ahead, Burt." Laughing hard, Puck encouraged.

"Puck!" Finn banged on the table with his fist as he stood up before looking over his family and friends. "I met a terrific girl and I WANT THIS TO WORK OUT! SO KEEP YOUR NOSES OUT OF IT!" He sank down into the chair panting as everyone in the room gasped at his outburst.

"Are we finished?" Mercedes finally opened her mouth. "Personally, I'm with Kurt, but this is not an issue for us to discuss. Leave him alone, people." She stood up. "So if you'll excuse us." She yanked his boyfriend's arm to leave.

Finn smiled at her appreciatively. "Thanks, Mercedes."

Relieved that his son seemed to finally meet a girl, Carole approached Finn to hug. "I'm glad you met a girl who you want it to work out." She pulled herself from him. "But Kurt's right. Please remember this. Girls don't like games. If you really care about her, you should come clean as soon as possible."

"I know, Mom, I know." Finn sighed. But he didn't know when and how.

* * *

**Please review :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews! I'm back from holiday. Now the story is half way through. I hope you will enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its character.**

* * *

**Chapter 10 – September 2013**

Despite his family and friends ruined his morning, the date with Rachel last Saturday went so well. After the lunch, Finn took her to the bowling alley at Chelsea Piers.

She sucked at bowling!

Oh yeah, she huffed making an excuse that she had never played bowling. She threw a gutterball after gutterball after gutterball after… ('_Stop laughing at me, Finn!_'). She was so cute when she desperately tried to prove that she could do better. Frown when she concentrated at throwing a ball, the scrunchy face when she failed, the cheeks turning red rebuking when he laughed at her.

And the cu, cul, culet? curet? Damn, what did Kurt say about girls' attire the other day, shorts but kinda skirt? Anyway, she wore the short-skirt-like shorts and when she bent to throw a ball he could worship her toned long legs and her perfect round buttocks. Not that he checked her out.

Alright, he did. So what? It was not like he did that to someone else while dating with Rachel. He checked _Rachel_ out, you know, the girl he was in love with. She was the perfect combination of sexy and cute. He couldn't help. So sue him.

Okay, he digressed.

When finally she managed to throw her shiny pink ball keeping away from falling into the gutter, she jumped up and down excitedly (even though she hit only three pins). Then she turned around with twinkling eyes and literally dived into his arms which caused him to fall on his backside. But he didn't care how painful his ass was because she gave him a real prize.

Rachel slumped down onto top of him keeping her arms around his neck straddling (and he wrapped his arms around her middle) as he landed on his butt. After sharing giggles for a while, they stared into each other's eyes before her gaze shifted towards beneath his eyes, her forefinger idly tracing his freckles which caused him to shiver. '_You have freckles,_' she said. Then she slightly parted her lips and lowered her face closer to his. He, with his both hands, pushed back her hair which had been tickling his cheeks before finger-combing her hair and cradling her head.

When her lips met his, everything around them disappeared. And it engendered something deep inside of him.

He didn't even notice that some kid passing by them with a horrified look ran back to his mother going like, '_Ewwwww, grooooooss! Mooooommm!_' (his mom said '_Don't look at them_' covering her son's eyes with her hand). A few minutes later, a staff walked over to them before clearing his throat.

"_It's not that public display of affection does not be allowed here, but, um, we have a lot of kids at this hour of day, so…_"

Embarrassed, Finn and Rachel stopped what they'd been doing immediately with tomato faces and pulled themselves away each other as the guy working at the bowling alley declared awkwardly.

Finn hastily tried to get both of her and himself up, which ended up accidentally head-butting Rachel. She cried out with a sharp pain, her hand on her forehead which was already swelling as she leaned backward. The more in a hurry, the more his own body turned traitor to him. His legs tangled and his large flame spread over her tiny one. Dumbfounded by his own clumsiness, he grabbed her face in his hands and repeatedly apologized. But Rachel didn't either get angry or show some tears. She just burst into laughter as her hand which had rubbed her forehead sifted to her stomach. Finn gasped before crying out.

"_Rachel! Stop laughing at me!_"

"_You mercilessly laughed at my lack of skill at bowling, Finn! You deserved it!_"

"_I told you, I'm uncoordinated! So stop!_"

"_No, I won't!_"

"_Rachel! I warned you!_"

"_No!_"

Finn tackled Rachel and started tickling. She squealing writhed under his large figure, trying brushing his hands away from her lumbar. Yup, they forgot people's eyes surrounding them _again_. They were almost banned from the bowling alley.

Recalling the bowling date with a goofy grin, Finn, who was eating his lunch in the teachers' lounge, failed to hear a student teacher chatting excitedly.

"It's a shame for you not to take part in the extracurricular class today. I don't think musical is your favorite but I bet you could enjoy it." Marley Rose, who had developed a little crush on Finn since she first met him, continued talking to him putting her hand on his arm.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, totally." Absent‐mindedly Finn answered, not noticing her affectionate gesture.

"You brain is still on a vacation, isn't it?" Matt Rutherford, a gym teacher, chuckled. "Eww, gross! You should close your mouth when eating." He wrinkled his nose as he saw his colleague munching happily his lunch. "If you go like that, you're never gonna find the right one." He smirked, twirling the ring on the third finger of his left hand.

"Oh, I don't think so." Marley cut in. "I think that's one of his charms." She retorted, looking at Finn through her eyelashes.

Out of the corner of his eye seeing the music teacher who seemed to keep daydreaming, Matt smiled at Marley sympathetically. "Good luck with that." He turned his face towards Finn. "Right? Huds?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, totally."

* * *

"Ready to go?" Blaine asked, peeking into Rachel's green room.

"Um, I think so." Rachel looked around her room one last time holding her puppet.

Attending an extracurricular class in a NYC elementary/middle school was longstanding convention for actors on Broadway to contribute to the community as their social responsibility. Rachel and Blaine were going to an elementary school in Greenwich Village to tell a story about Broadway and perform with some tunes from their show for third and fourth grades today.

"So, how did it go on Saturday?" Blaine with a smirk tried to get a piece of information about Rachel and Brody as they met their agencies outside of the theater.

"What are you talking about?" Rachel pretended nonchalantly as they got into a town car.

"You know what I mean." Blaine sank himself into the back seat next to Rachel before elbowing her arm playfully. "I know you went on a date with him. So tell me how it went."

Although so many voices in the back of her head kept whispering as to how sexually attractive Brody (Finn) was—large hands, strong forearms, nice butt… even his freckles and messy hair captivated her— thanks to her cast mates and crew's intervention, the date went so well. She splendidly succeeded in ignoring the voices because of her competitiveness and his (adorable) clumsiness.

Finn was so charming—sweet, funny and sexy. She couldn't help herself from kissing him. She couldn't believe she actually did display affection in a public area. She knew she could be an affectionate and touchy freely person sometimes but she had never done like that before with Jesse (of course with Jonas either). When with Finn, she felt somehow right. She had never felt like that with anyone else. She felt safe when in his arms. What did Blaine say? 'Right time' meant the time when it felt good. Which meant that right time might be the time when she felt right too?

Rachel turned her head towards her co-star, but she bit her tongue and faced forward again since she already knew the answer. Blaine arched his eyebrow as he saw her hesitate to elaborate before just giving him a simple answer 'it was great' instead. She remained silent the rest of the time while on the town car, recalling the sequel to the date.

They watched _Sweeney Todd_, had dinner and walked Rusty to the dog run together after having gotten (Rachel's) home from the bowling alley. Then they returned to her apartment again and parked themselves on the couch in her living room to chill out. Though her self-conscious suddenly swooped down on her (she realized that the synthesis of the couch and Finn produced two concepts: danger and craving), her drowsiness beat it this time.

Rachel had to struggle to fight off sleep while they were watching _ESPN Sports Center_, but to no avail because of her no-interest in sports. She eventually leaned her head against Finn's shoulder (as for Finn, he couldn't watch to the end of the program because he felt something tiny but warm on his lap while idly playing her hair watching on TV. He looked down at whatever it was before finding Rachel's tiny left hand on his left tight).

When Rachel woke up, she found herself on top of Finn, who idly stroked her hair closing his eyes. She looked up at him rubbing her eyes before turning her face towards TV which already was off. When she faced him again, her gaze met his sleepy eyes. She asked how it went with his favorite team, remaining her position. Finn explained they played doubleheader against Marlins, lost Game 1 but won Game 2. She said she had no idea what he was talking about and asked if it meant that they ended in a tie. He chuckled before asking if she did enjoy any other sports to watch or actually do and if she had ever been to a sport match.

Since she and Jonas started dating, she had been to the games a few times where he played as a starting quarterback in order to cheer him up; the truth was just to watch his play from the farthest and most remote seat in the stand because he might have said she had better not come to the games (he hastily corrected his own words, making an excuse like he was distracted or couldn't focus on the game when she came—but hey, she was his girlfriend, at least she thought at that time, why not showing up and cheering him up?).

Recalling the worst memories of her lifetime, she opened her mouth to answer to Finn, but stopped in mid-sentence. Instead, she asked if he played or enjoyed watching any other sports.

She learnt that Finn was a quarterback in high school.

Then something hit her; there was one thing she had been on her mind. She didn't know about Finn as much as he did about her. He didn't seem to want to talk about his job, he didn't seem to like letting her meet his friends. According to Santana, he was a ladies' man. If it was true, he definitely changed for some reason judging by what Rachel and Finn had shared. Then why didn't he talk about himself more? Why didn't he let her meet his friends? She didn't think he was playing her. Or did she just want to believe that?

And maybe she should tell him about her miserable experiences with Jonas. Also about what happened to Jesse and her. _Maybe sometime soon. But not now._ She thought.

She wasn't sure that he felt her tense her body, but definitely he knew something was wrong with her since her mouth shaped a perfect 'O' and climbed off him. Actually, he frowned and asked what was going on and if he said something wrong.

She just shook her head to Finn who got himself up on the couch and threw herself into him. He automatically held her in his arms and stretched themselves out on the couch again. He stroked her hair without saying anything, which she really appreciated, and they stayed like that for a while.

Rachel was too deep in thought to notice that she got to the elementary school.

"Rachel? _Rachel!_" Blaine called out, waving his hand in front of her face.

"Huh?"

"We are here." Blaine informed. "Are you okay?" He asked with a worried look.

Rachel got out of the car before trying to assure him. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine."

* * *

"Oh, I think I left my wallet at the class room." Finn said rummaging in his backpack before looking up at Matt. "Go ahead, I'll catch up soon." When he was about to go back to the class room, he heard a familiar voice from the other end of the hallway.

"Finn!"

Blaine frowned as Rachel called out to a very tall guy who was standing at the opposite end of the hallway. "Finn? Do you know that guy?" He asked her raising his eyebrow.

"Um, he's Brody. I'll explain later." Rachel answered to her co-star over her shoulder as she ran to the tall guy. "Finn! What are you doing here?" She asked panting.

"R-Rachel? What are you doing here?" Finn asked in answer having the jitters as he saw a short man with a bowtie approaching them. "I thought it was your day off today."

Rachel filled him in before introducing Blaine and their agencies to him. "How about you? Did you come to take pictures of the extracurricular class?"

Finn rubbed the back of his neck tensely. "Um, kinda. I mean, I have to go to Carnegie Hall with kids to take pictures." He really wanted to tell her the truth, not pile a lie after a lie. But he couldn't because there were other people here.

Rachel nodded before noticing something was missing. "Where's your camera?"

"Oh, um…"

Finn was about to make some excuse as Matt interrupted shouting at his colleague from the hallway entrance. "Huds, you've got your wallet? We have to go now." Which made Finn momentarily froze.

Rachel tilted her head to one side. Blaine arched his eyebrow as he felt Brody getting strained for some reason. He shifted his gaze from Brody to Rachel who seemed to balk at saying something. To break some weird tension floating in the hallway, he cleared his throat before declaring. "Well, nice to meet you Brody. We gotta go too." He motioned Rachel to let her know that their agencies beckoned them from the corner of the hallway to come to the principal office.

After awkwardly exchanging 'see you later' with Finn, Rachel, who was dragged out of the place by Blaine, looked at the 6'3" over her shoulder as a female voice called his name which was used only by his close and important people. A young slender brunette ran to him before handing something out to him with her one hand, her other hand rubbing his arm affectionately.

In the principal office, Rachel was too distracted with the image of the young woman and Finn who she had just seen in the hallway to join the conversation between the principal, Blaine and their agencies.

When the principal Shannon Bieste led them to the gymnasium, Rachel found the young brunette standing with the teachers there. She was very pretty.

"Rachel, are you really okay?" Blaine whispered in her ear as one of the teachers talked to his students. "You look a little green."

"Um, yeah, I'm fine." Rachel forced herself to smile at him. But honestly, the more she tried to eradicate the image, the more her self-deprecation got inflated inside of her. To make matters worse, she could hear (not eavesdropped, she swore!) another woman with readhead asking the brunette about some kind of the relationship between Finn and her.

"What a shame he couldn't partici… How's it going… him, by the way?" The readhead whispered.

The brunette blushed. "I don't know… but I tried to have lunch with him every day… Oh, he was so adorable today. He seemed…"

Rachel felt like she had a lump in her chest. Was she his girlfriend or something? Was that why he had been in this school? Then why did Finn ask her out? Was that true that Santana had said about him? Her mind almost exploded with millions of questions.

But Rachel Barbra Berry was a professional under any circumstances.

She completed her duty with a blight smile.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Blaine asked when they emerged out of the school.

"About what?" Rachel threw a question back without looking at him.

"About Brody? About what happened in the hallway?" Blaine peered into her eyes.

Rachel let out a deep breath before turning her head towards her agent. "Nancy, I want to walk home from here." Then she faced her gel haired co-star. "Sorry, B. I have a sore throat. I just want to go home. I'll talk to you later."

"Okay." Blaine nodded. "See you tomorrow, Rachel."

Rachel waved her hand to Blaine and their agencies saying good night. And she started walking home, wondering why she had an ominous feeling and a chill was because she might be heartbroken soon or later, or because of something else.

* * *

**A/N: I stole the line of Cal from "**_**Crazy, Stupid, Love**_**."**

**Please review :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 11 – September 2013**

"Psst." Blaine tried to get an attention from Tina who was about to enter her green room as he looked around to make sure Santana or Rachel were nowhere to be found. "Pssst. Tina."

Tina whirled around to look for who had called her name. "What's up, B?"

Blaine put his forefinger on his lips for Tina to lower her voice before beckoning her to come over to his green room. "There's something I want to talk about." He said, keeping his voice low.

Which made Tina walk over on tiptoes towards Blaine's green room. "Why are you so sneaking?" She asked in hushed tone as she let herself in the room.

"I don't want Santana to hear us." Blain whispered as he closed his door quietly.

"Why?" Tina asked frowning as she parked herself in an arm chair.

"You know me, I don't like she's right." Blaine straddled a swivel chair, leaning against the backrest with his crossed arms. "But I'm beginning to think there's something she's right about Brody guy."

Tina tilted her head to one side. "I don't quite understand. What are you talking about?"

"You know Rachel and I went to the elementary school in Greenwich Village the other day, for attending the extracurricular class?" Blaine continued as he saw Tina nodding. "I don't know whether Rachel told you or not, but I assume she didn't."

"Cut to the chase, Blaine!" Anxious to hear, Tina hissed.

"Okay, okay." Blaine held his hands up in the air before wheeling the chair to get near to the arm chair. "We bumped into Brody there."

"Really?" That was news to Tina. She had been thinking something was up to Rachel because she had witnessed Rachel's getting caught up in her thoughts these days. "I didn't know that." She frowned before looking up at her co-star. "Wait, why was he there? What was he doing there to begin with?"

"Weird, right?" Blaine purred. "Rachel thought so too." Then he detailed the encounter with Brody to Tina. "Although Brody seemed to be a very nice person and didn't seem to play with Rachel, I feel something wrong. Oh, there's one more thing you need to know about him." He paused effectively to make the story more dramatic, ignoring Tina rolled her eyes. "Rachel called him 'Finn.'"

"What did she call him?" Santana, who had been eavesdropping outside of Blaine's green room, flung open the door which caused Blaine to nearly fall off the chair.

"You're unbelievable." Blaine shook his head as he composed himself on the chair. "How long have you been there?" He narrowed his eyes.

"You can never get over on me, Pony." Santana smirked. "Alright, get back on track. What did she call him again?"

Blaine sighed in defeated. "'Finn.' That's what she called him."

Santana folded her arms across her chest, looking up at the ceiling. Then her gaze sifted toward the guy with a bowtie. "Did she tell you the reason why?"

Blaine nodded. "I think she said 'Finn' was the name only his family and close friends called." He frowned recalling the event in the hallway. "There was another girl who called him 'Finn.' I'm sure Rachel heard the girl calling him the name because her mind was somewhere else after that."

"'Finn' is definitely not a nickname for Brody." Tina said. "Who's that girl anyway?" She saw out of the corner of her eye Santana pacing back and forth in the room.

"I think she's a teacher or something. She was with other teachers in the gym." Blaine informed. "I believe the girl and one of the teachers talked about Brody."

"What exactly did they talk about?" Tina asked with a worried look.

"I couldn't hear. Besides, I did more focus on Rachel than them." Blaine said apologetically. "And I remember some guy called him 'Huds.'"

Santana stopped herself from pacing as she heard the name 'Huds.' 'Finn' was not a popular name for boys, but not a rare either. To her, it sounded familiar. And 'Huds'? Why did she feel like something stuck in her throat? She put her forefinger on her jaw thinking hard. "I have to go." She murmured before emerging out of the room without greeting or looking at Blaine and Tina.

"What was that?" Blaine nodded at the door where Santana had just left.

Tina shrugged. "I have no idea."

* * *

Finn missed Rachel. _A lot_. He didn't want to think that she'd been avoiding him because of their awkward encounter in the school hallway.

For the first four or five days since then, she waved a hand with a sheepish smile through her window every morning as he went to school, although she didn't come home until the clock hands were standing straight up at night (he called her a few times to ask her to have dinner with him but she said she couldn't because the opening night was approaching and she would be late home).

But after the days passed, she came not to show up at the window. She somehow kept draping all the curtains days and nights. He didn't even know whether she was at home or went to her rehearsals. She didn't either answer the phone or reply to his texts.

Did he something wrong?

Of course, he did.

He kept lying to her. Maybe she thought something was wrong when they ran into each other in the school. That was why he made up his mind to tell her the truth. He didn't accomplish his mission just yet.

Finn sighed.

"Alright, Finessa. I don't think you ought to poke your fat ass into Mrs. Weston's case though," Puck handed a bottle of beer out to his best friend as he sat on the couch in his apartment. "Anyway, you didn't hear this from me, understand?"

Finn nodded as he took the beer from the Mohawk.

When Finn came into the apartment building the other night, the doorman was not there. It was the first time he wasn't greeted by the doorman since he moved in Mrs. Weston's apartment. With an inquiring mind, he wandered to the super's apartment where he found the doorman and the rest of the building staff watching a ballgame. Then he thought it explained how someone could have gotten into the building without being seen.

"You remember I've talked about the transvestite killer? The case the reporters were trying to consider as the old lady's assault?" Puck sifted his gaze to the game on TV where Matsuzaka had just gone 1-2-3 against Reds in the first inning. "There's this kid who found unconscious in his bedroom."

Finn sifted his eyes from TV to his best friend with a curious look.

"I won't go into details but let me just say that it involved a pair of pantyhose and a hook on the back of his bathroom." Puck continued.

"It sounds like he attempted committing suicide." Finn remarked.

"That's what his parents choose to think." Puck said sipping his beer. "From what he was wearing, which was a number of ladies' undergarments, I do not think suicide was on his mind." His eyes glued on TV. "Anyway, EMS guys take in the fancy duds and note that some of them fit the description of clothing missing from one of two of the homes of victims of the transvestite killer." Finally he turned his head towards Finn as the bottom of the second inning finished.

"You mean, the kid's the killer?" Finn asked.

Puck nodded before turning his head to TV again. "The kid works for one of those dot-com delivery companies and he's been in all seven buildings in which a transvestite murder has occurred." He paused to focus on the game on TV, in which Young Jr. singled to the right field. "I've got information from 10th precinct that they got a printout that places the kid at every single one of those crime scenes at exactly the time the murders took places."

Finn patiently waited for his best friend to continue the story.

"Yes!" Puck sprung to his feet with his fist pumping as Tovar scored. The he finally looked at Finn rubbing his Mohawk with a satisfied smirk as he sat down on the couch. "He killed them while he was supposed to be delivering whatever they'd ordered."

"Hmmmp." Finn pondered, looking up at the cieling. "The more I think about it, the more I believe this whole thing leads to someone who knew Mrs. Weston, you know, someone who didn't need to stop and ask the doorman any questions." Finn paused before turning his head towards his best friend. "And might even have known the doorman's habits well enough to know that on the night of a ballgame."

"I thought you were obsessed with the Rachel girl not the comatose old lady." Puck chuckled, standing up from the couch to walk into the kitchen for another beer.

"You said all the victims lived in walk-up buildings, no doorman to tangle with, right?" Finn pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and unlocked it in order to send Brody a text. When he finished texting, he resumed speaking to Puck. "And all had items taken from their homes. But Mrs. Weston had over three hundred bucks in her wallet, which was sitting in plain sight."

Puck nodded as he put the bottle of beer on the table. "What do you have to say?" He sank down on the couch. "I don't know, man. The kid's never made a delivery in Weston's building. But I would say it was a copycat. At least 10th precinct considers it." He saw Finn being deep in thought. "Just bang that chick to back to normal. You're really acting weird lately, you know that, right?"

Ignoring his friend's comment, Finn stood up from the couch. "I gotta go."

Puck arched his eyebrow. "You don't stay to the end of the game?"

Finn shook his head. "I have to walk Rusty anyway."

"You really need to get your life back!" Puck yelled at the back of Finn. "Or get laid!"

* * *

Brody got more and more irritated with Brittany. Also annoyed with Finn.

The latter had been texting to ask him about his aunt consistently. Did his aunt have any enemies that he knew of? Of course she had. The old lady was a real bitch. Everyone who knew her hated her. No, they _loathed_ her. Except for that freakish animal-loving neighbor of hers. Aunt Hilda was _really_ stingy. She was a woman worth twelve million, fucking _twelve million_! If he were somebody who liked to sit in the park and drink coffee, he'd have taken out a hit on her.

And the former had been spending his money like a drunken sailor saying it couldn't be helped because she forgot her bank card at her apartment in New York. He thought that Brittany was the perfect combination of feline and equine—sexy and independent, while at the same time haughty, yet poetic.

He was wrong. _So_ wrong. She was proving to be far more avian than he had ever expected. How the fuck did somebody 'forget' her bank card when she went on vacation? He wouldn't care if it were just a matter of buying her a sandwich now and then, but she kept insisting she needed new shoes, new bathing suits, new dresses, and why the fuck did her overweight cat need tons of books about Scientology?

Brody dialed his agent number rubbing his face irritably.

"_Hello?_"

"It's me, Cassandra." Brody said bluntly on the phone. He heard Cassandra sigh.

"_Look, I don't have a lot right now, workwise_"

"You don't understand. I need work. Any work! Brittany's gone mental. I have to get out of Hawaii. You've got to get me out of here." Brody yelled desperately.

"_I told you not to go on hiatus, or whatever it is you're calling this extended vacation of yours. Dropping out of the sight you're doing has hurt a lot more careers than it's ever helped. But, hey, don't panic. Swimsuit issues are right around the corner._"

"She's racked all my credit card up to the max. She's been buying up all the books about Scientology in entire Hawaii and sipping them back to New York, for a cat, Cassandra, _a cat_!" Brody pinched the bridge of his nose. "Find me work. I'll take anything."

"_I'm not saying I blame you, I mean, it's Brittany. Any guys would have done the same thing. But you can't leave during our busiest season. You had it coming. You should've known that. New talent moves in. There are some real money-hungry kids out there who are good. _Real_ good._"

"So you're saying I've gone from one of the top photographers in the country to nothing?" Annoyed, Brody raised his voice.

"_Listen, Brody. It's not that I'm not trying. I will find something for you. But you've got to give me some time._"

"But-" Brody was about to continue whining, but his agent didn't let him finish.

"_I'm a busy person. Don't bother me anymore. I'll get in touch as soon as I hear of anything. Okay? I gotta go. Bye._"

As Brody heard Cassandra hung up on him, he shouted with a frustration and dashed the phone against the wall. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuuuuuuuuuuuuck!"

* * *

That ominous feeling and the chill she had been having was because of something else. Rachel caught Chickenpox. From one of the students of the elementary school in Greenwich Village last week, she assumed. There was the kid attached to her and her puppet who clearly looked like recovering from sick. She was too absorbed in thought about the brunette standing nearby to be careful enough with the kid.

She had been thinking she got Chickenpox when she was a kid, which she didn't after all (what was worse was she hadn't gotten a vaccination for Chickenpox!). Leroy and Hiram sympathetically sent wishes to get better to her on the phone. She loved kids. But seriously, if your kid didn't completely recover from Chickenpox, you must not allow him or her to go outside! She sighed.

Rachel had never been sick. She had not been absence from school or work because of illness, ever.

Until this week.

She had a fever around 100 degrees. She arched around her neck and ear. The doctor said that she needed to stay in bed and not to go to work unless the fever went down. The opening night was coming in a week. What if she missed it? She had an enough pain in the neck (not just metaphorically but literally), how was she supposed to endure this stressful situation?

"You're being overdramatic, Rachel." Tina patted on Rachel's hand. "You can make it. Don't worry too much. I'm sure the fever will go down in a few days."

Rachel flinched, pulling her hand away from Tina. "Be careful. I don't want to infect you with Chickenpox."

Tina dismissed with a waving hand. "We all vaccinated soon after you were diagnosed Chickenpox." She glanced at her wrist watch before standing up. "Alright, I have to go. I put vegan yogurt in the fridge."

"Thank you, Tina." Rachel smiled at her friend with sleepy eyes. "I think the medicine's kicked in." She yawned. "I'm going to get some sleep."

* * *

As Tina opened the front door to walk out of Rachel's apartment, she saw Brody unlocking the door of Mrs. Weston's apartment.

"Hi, Brody." Tina called out to the back of the tall guy.

Finn whirled around as he heard a female voice. "Oh, hey, um, Tina, right?" He saw Tina nodding. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Um, is Rachel at home? I've not seen her for a couple of days."

"Oh, you didn't know?" Tina widened her eyes. "She caught Chickenpox and is down with a fever." She informed.

_That was why all the curtains had been drawn together and she hadn't shown up at the window in the morning._ He thought, half relieved, before mentally cursing at himself; He should've had courage to knock on her door, so he could've taken care of her. He let out a breath. "Can I see her?"

"I think she's fallen asleep." Tina couldn't decide whether she should let him in or not.

"But I want to see her. I _must_ see her." Finn pleaded with a concerned look.

Tina sighed. "Okay." She stepped aside for him to come in. "Take good care of her."

Finn nodded, running a hand through his hair. "I will. Thanks."

Finn made his way towards Rachel's bedroom as soon as Tina left. He gently knocked on her bedroom's door before peeking into the room. "Rach? Rachel?" He whispered.

As Tina had said, Rachel had already fallen asleep. Finn deposited himself in the arm chair next to her bed and stared at her for a while. She looked so peaceful. She was like Sleeping Beauty. He stretched his hand to push her bang aside before touching her warm forehead in spite of himself. As he moved his hand to her cheek and caressed gently, Rachel scrunched her nose a little in sleep. He chuckled quietly.

"I'll be back after walking Rusty, Okay?" He pressed his lips on her forehead before whispering in her hair. "Don't be mad if I take your spare from the cabinet." His lips shifted to her cheek to give her one more chaste kiss.

He walked into her kitchen and opened the cabinet where Rachel hid her spare key (he remembered he had seen it on the day after Rachel had gotten drunk). Then he peeked into the fridge in order that he might buy something Rachel would need, having a second thought about telling her the truth right away since he didn't want to give her additional stress while she was down and before the opening night.

* * *

**Please review :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 12 – September 2013**

Rachel didn't know how long she had slept. Tina left her apartment at about 10 pm or so, which meant she was sleeping for more than… a half day? She jumped out of her bed as she saw the clock on the night table. Fortunately the medicine seemed to ease her temperature and aches around her neck and ears. She let out a sigh of relief. She grabbed her housecoat and opened the bedroom's door as some sweet delicious smell hit her nose. Dumbfounded, she widened her eyes as she made her way towards her kitchen. She saw an unknown guy standing there.

"W-who are you?" Rachel managed to speak out. "What are you doing in my apartment?"

"Oh, hello, Rachel." A guy, wearing a crisply-pressed white shirt, jacquard pattern trousers, an ivory scarf printed purple skulls around his neck, took off an apron before neatly folding and putting it on the kitchen counter. "I'm Kurt Hummel, Finn's friend. Nice to finally meet you." He approached her and offered his hand to shake with a smile. "I heard a lot about you from Finn."

Rachel blinked a few times before taking his hand. "Um, you too."

"I know you're thinking why I'm here." Kurt gestured for her to sit on a stool. "Finn's out on an errand. He told me this morning you were down with Chickenpox. So I decided to make breakfast for you. Well I should say brunch." He turned around to pull the tray filled with sweet potatoes out of the oven. He deliberately opened the potatoes across the top and pushed the flesh slightly to rise out of the skin. Then he sprinkled yogurt, maple syrup and nuts on each potato. "Here you are. This is my specialty." He served. "And this," he took another plate from the other side of counter, "is hummus toast with avocado and roasted tomato." He put it in front of Rachel.

Too stunned by an unexpected visitor to speak, Rachel was just watching every move Kurt made with an open mouth. "Thank you, Kurt." Was all she could say. Finn made her speechless when he made breakfast for her. Now Kurt made her wordless when he made supposed-to-be-breakfast for her? What was it with these men and breakfast?

"So, Rachel. Finn told me that you're a Broadway actress." Kurt started to have a conversation. "I've worked on some musicals as an assistant for costume designer." He introduced himself.

Rachel's eyes lightened up. "Really? Which ones?"

She found them have a lot in common. They completely lost track of time, getting lively over musicals and Barbra Streisand. As she was about to ask him about Finn, the unlocked sound came from the front door.

"Uh-oh." Kurt froze.

Finn widened his eyes as he saw Kurt sitting next to Rachel in the kitchen. "What the hell, Kurt?" He glared at his step brother. "You were supposed to wait for me in my apartment!"

Kurt straightened up on the stool. "You didn't say that." He said in a defiant manner. "I told you I was going to make breakfast for both of you."

Finn groaned. "I meant in _my _apartment, not hers!" He shook his head.

"You don't want Canadian bacon omelette? I reproduced the taste of your favorite restaurant." Kurt turned his head to Rachel. "If you want something from him, just feed his favorite to him."

"_Kurt!_" He yelled and was about to tell him to get out of the apartment, but his stomach betrayed him. Embarrassed, his face flushed red as flame.

"See?" Kurt winked at Rachel.

Rachel giggled. "Why don't you join us to enjoy brunch he made?" She motion to Finn to take a stool next to Kurt.

Finn gave her a lopsided smile before throwing an instant glare at Kurt as he parked himself on the stool as he was told.

Kurt began divulging Finn's embarrassing anecdotes while they were enjoying brunch—like '_he's once prayed to a grilled "Cheesus" sandwich when he was in high school, Rachel!_'—in spite of Finn's resistance.

Rachel watched at their bickering smiling fondly, her elbows on the counter, her jaw cupped with her hands. "I can see why you called him your brother." She put a word in.

Finn and Kurt fell into silence to her remark and looked at each other before Kurt cleared his throat. "Yes, We are little less than brother." He glanced at his brother with a meaningful look as he stood up from the stool, thinking this was a cue. "Well, I have to go." Then he leaned down to whisper in Rachel's ear, grabbing her hand to squeeze. "Please remember this. Finn's a really good guy, and really _really_ cares about you, Rachel."

Confused, Rachel tilted her head to one side before losing no time in nodding.

This was it. Finn straightened up on the stool. He took a deep breath. Then he began to speak as he saw his step brother making his way to the front door. "Rachel-"

"_Rachel!_"

Kurt's voice from the front door interrupted Finn, who groaned.

"_You have a visitor!_"

Rachel perked up her head before walking over to the door. "Hi, Blaine." She saw Blaine and Kurt wriggling looking at each other through their eyelashes. "Oh, um, this is Kurt, Fin- I mean, Brody's friend." She said to Blaine before turning her head to Kurt. "Kurt, this is Blaine, co-star from my show."

Blaine chuckled as he heard Rachel say 'her show.' "You're definitely feeling better." Then he faced Kurt and stretched his hand out to shake. "Nice to meet you."

"You too, Blaine." Kurt took his hand, blushing. "Um, wanna join us?" Having totally forgotten that he should leave the apartment for Finn (and the apartment was not his), he invited Blaine to coming in.

Blaine held the brown paper bag up towards Rachel as he entered the apartment. "Tina sent me to bring you lunch." When he followed Rachel and Kurt to walk into the kitchen, he found the tall guy sitting on the stool. "Oh, hey, Brody."

Fidgeted, Finn slowly got himself out of the stool and offered his hand to shake. "Blaine," He cleared his throat. "Nice to see you again."

The awkward silence descended on the four of them.

"Have you eaten lunch?" Kurt asked Blaine to break the ice. "Rachel's already eaten brunch, which I made. You want my specialty?" He beamed at the gel haired guy.

"Thanks, but I've already had." Blaine smiled at Kurt.

"Then why don't we have dessert?" He clapped his hand before turning his head towards Rachel and Finn. "I brought vegan ice creams. Want some?"

Rachel chewed the inside of her cheeks. It was not a lie that Kurt said that Finn had told him about her. She nodded before facing Finn with a shy smile. "I don't think you'll like vegan ice-"

Before Rachel finished or Finn could open his mouth, Kurt cut in. "That's why the normal one is in the fridge." He declared triumphantly and walked over to the fridge to take the cartons out. "Which do you want to have, vegan or not vegan, Blaine?"

Finn gazed up to the ceiling pinching the bridge of his nose. He knew his step brother tried to impress Blaine. But did he have to do that _now_? Yes, he had been moping around since he bumped into Rachel and Blaine at the school and Kurt actually gave him the push to tell her the truth this morning even though the way he did was a kind of ambush. He let out a sigh before shaking his head, frustrated.

"Are you okay?" Rachel leaned down to ask in a small voice while Kurt and Blaine were chatting animatedly.

Finn looked down at her with a sheepish smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"… right? Brody?"

Finn snapped his head up. "Huh?" He wasn't listening to the conversation between his step brother and Rachel's co-star, not to mention he was definitely not interested that they flirted with each other.

"I said that I heard from Rachel why you're called Finn, but there was this girl who also called you that nickname in the hallway, right?" Blaine ventured to ask. "Who was that girl?"

Finn was at a loss for words momentarily. He came up with… nothing. "Um…" He rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at his laps.

"You know, girls sometimes call him Finn after they got it by hearsay." Kurt cut in as he saw his brother having difficulty in making an excuse. "Especially those who have a crush on him. I'm sure that girl's one of them. Though Finn doesn't even notice they have. He's really obtuse."

Finn shut his eyes tightly, wondering if his day couldn't be much worse.

Rachel sifted on the stool uncomfortably. "Um, don't you have to go back to the theater, Blaine? It would be great if you could show him around the theater. You know, he loves musicals and have worked on Broadway too." She put her hand on Kurt's arm before facing him, forcing herself to smile at them. "Thank you for the brunch, Kurt. I hope you'll come to the opening night." Then she finally turned her head to Finn. "Thank you for taking care of me, but I want to get some rest, so…" She looked down at the floor, biting her lips.

"Rachel…" Finn reached for her.

"I'm sorry, Finn, but I'm really tired." Rachel averted her gaze from him.

Finn sighed. "Okay. But I'll come visit to check you out at night. Is that okay with you?" He saw her nodding. He stepped closer to her and gave a bear hug and dropped his lips on her head. "See you, Rach." With that he made his way to the front door dejectedly.

Kurt smiled at his step brother apologetically before facing his new love interest. "I'd love to see you working." Then he turned his head to Rachel. "Nice to meet you again, Rachel. I won't miss your opening night."

After exchanging good byes with Kurt, Blaine and Finn, Rachel sank down on the stool, wondering how she thought she could be with Finn if many girls felt attracted to him.

* * *

Rachel didn't realize she had fallen asleep. She rubbed her eyes before looking at the clock on the night table. It was past 9 pm. She sighed. Her morning was half surprised and half excited. She was taken aback when she saw Kurt standing in her kitchen, but after composing herself, she felt warm inside because a) she had wanted to meet some friends of Finn's, b) especially she had wanted to meet Kurt, c) she cottoned on to him (at least she thought).

But it was until Blaine asked Finn about the young brunette.

She really needed to ask him about himself, his job, his friends, his family… Kurt said that Finn really cared about her. Sure, Finn had been so nice to her. He seemed to care about her, she felt it. But what did it mean? Was she his girlfriend? Or was he dating with or kissing someone else too? Or was he having sexual intercourse with someone… _Stop it, Rachel! He doesn't do such thing! He's not that kind of person!_

Rachel let out a sigh again and climbed off her bed. When she emerged out of her bedroom, she heard a few knocks on the front door. Her face lightened up imagining it might be Finn. She rushed into the front door. But her face fell as she opened it. "Jesse."

"How are you feeling? You look a lot better." Jesse entered her apartment without permission before walking over to the kitchen. "I've got vegan soup from your favorite restaurant."

"Jesse, I appreciate your consideration, but can you leave me alone?" Rachel didn't bother to hide her annoyance, crossing her arms.

"Nope." Jesse opened the cabinet to pull out two soup bowls. "Why don't we learn lines together while eating?" He poured vegan soup from the containers into the bowls. "After that, I don't mind watching your favorite movies, _Funny Girl_? _West Side Story_? Of course I don't mind not musical movies, like _The Notebook_. What do you say?" He put one of the bowls in front of Rachel and the other of himself.

Rachel sighed. "You're not going to leave until you get what you want, aren't you?" She shook her head before sitting on the stool.

"You know me better than anybody else." Jesse smirked.

They were half way through eating soup as another knocks came from the front door.

_Oh God, it must be Finn._ Rachel jumped out of the stool to answer the door. But Jesse dashed to beat it.

Standing outside of her apartment, Finn, pledging to tell her the truth this time around, felt bamboozled as the curly haired man answered the door. "Jesse." He managed to speak.

"Oh, hey, naked man." Jesse greeted matter-of-factly.

Finn frowned. Naked man? What the fuck did that mean? And what the hell was he doing in Rachel's apartment? He cleared his throat. "Is Rachel here?"

"Finn." Rachel said behind Jesse, praying that this would get Jesse to leave. "Come in." She yanked Jesse aside before grabbing Finn's hand to lead him into her apartment. But her not-subtle demeanor was in vain. Jesse followed them. So she turned around, folding her arms across her chest. "Jesse, thank you for the soup, but you should leave now."

"I don't think so." Jesse sat on the stool and resumed having his soup.

Rachel held her hands up in the air. "Fine. But you'll leave when you finish eating." She turned on her heel and walked over to her living room with Finn.

Finn, having a thought that he should come visit later again but not liking an idea that Rachel would be alone with Jesse if he fled this awkward situation, was determined to stay with her.

Jesse picked up his bowl and Rachel's from the kitchen counter and put them in the sink before grabbing a glass and a bottle of red wine for himself from the kitchen cabinet. Then he made his way to the living room. "Would you like some?" He held up the bottle to Finn.

"No thanks." Finn murmured, annoyed.

"I'll get you a beer." Rachel stood up from the sofa as she threw a glare at Jesse before storming off from the living room. "What is he thinking?" She said under her breath.

Ignoring his ex-girlfriend's annoyed look, Jesse deposited himself on the sofa. "Let's watch a movie." He poured the red wine into the glass. "Do you know Rachel's favorites?" He smirked at Finn.

Finn wrinkled on his forehead, not bothering to hide his annoyance. "I do. _Funny Girl_, right?" He answered bluntly.

"There is another." Jesse got up and pulled a DVD from the storage before holding it up to show it Finn. "She can recite all the lines in Spanish. So can I." He informed triumphantly. Then he put the DVD into the player before grabbing the clicker and sitting back on the sofa. "Rachel! Will start soon!" He yelled at the kitchen.

Rachel, holding a bottle of beer and a bowl filled with popcorn, walked in the living room with a frowned face. "Don't you have somewhere to go?" She held the beer out to Finn and put the bowl on the table in front of Finn. "I don't have any snack…" She smiled at Finn apologetically before parking herself next to him.

Finn smiled back at her. "Thanks, totally fine with me."

"I'm sorry." Rachel whispered in Finn's ear.

"No big deal." Finn whispered back shrugging and pressed his lips on her temple.

It was just two hours. Then Jesse would be gone. Just two hours. He could bear with him for two hours, right?

* * *

He was wrong.

_So _wrong.

First of all, _West Side Story_ was more than two hours. Secondly, despite Rachel clearly was annoyed with Jesse's presence, she and her ex sang together while watching it—what was that song? _One Hand, One Heart_? Dammit, their voices perfectly mixed (Rachel's voice was incredibly beautiful and he got goose bumps again, if he might add). And Jesse went on and on showing off his stock of knowledge about _West Side Story_ and other musicals—to make to matters worse, Rachel automatically responded to his talk. Third of all, Jesse St. Jackass was behaving as if this were _his_ apartment (or his and her one). The third wheel had to be Jackass, not Finn.

And now, this douche polished off another bottle of red wine, which he had brought it from the kitchen while the intermission, and was drifting off? Leaning down to Rachel (to her credit, she pushed him back _hard_)? What the fuck? Rachel was _his_ girl, not the douche's.

Jealousy and anger at the douchebag made Finn tighten his hold of her, gritting his teeth.

Finally the credits roll was showing on the screen, Rachel looked up at Finn. "I don't think he was going to go back his home." She sighed as she out of the corner of her eye glanced at her ex who already fell asleep on the sofa. "I'm sorry, you must've been uncomfortable."

"It's not your fault." Finn said with a weak smile before giving her a chaste kiss on her head, suppressing his feeling that he wanted it to be more passionate one.

"Would you, um, would you like to stay?" Asking in a low voice, Rachel cast down her eyes. "I mean, I don't want to be alone with him." She looked up at Finn.

Finn was drawn into her big brown eyes for a while. Without saying anything, he grabbed her hand to get her up from the sofa before walking over towards her bedroom.

As soon as the door closed, Finn smashed his lips on hers, cradling her head in his hands. Surprised, Rachel stiffed a little, but soon she got relaxed and kissed him back, putting her hands on his neck, rubbing his nape. When they pulled away from each other to catch a breath, Rachel whispered. "I have Chickenpox, you can't kiss me."

"I've gotten it." Finn said in her lips. "And I don't care." He held her tighter, putting his hands on her hips as he resumed kissing.

"Finn." Rachel whimpered in a kiss. "Finn." She said again.

Finn pulled himself away from her. "What?"

Rachel grabbed his hand to lead him to her bed. "Could you, um, could you rub this ointment on my back? I don't have a lot of rashes but there are some out of my reach." She looked down at the floor, blushing, biting her lower lips.

Finn nodded before taking the medicine from her.

Rachel turned away from him and took off her tank top over her head before crossing her arms to hide her chest.

Finn felt blood rushing down to the South as he saw her naked back. He managed to squeeze some amount of cream out of the tube and started rubbing it gently beneath her right scapula.

Rachel closed her eyes, feeling his calloused hand awake a sensation of heat from inside of her. "Finn." She managed to let out a word from her slightly trembling mouth.

Momentarily having forgotten breathing feeling her smooth skin on his hand, the voice came from Finn's nose. "Mmm?"

"Are you," Rachel hesitated a little. "Are you dating with someone else?"

"What kind of question are you asking?" Finn stood up as he finished rubbing the medicine. And he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind.

"But-"

"No, I'm not." Finn cut in as Rachel was about to refer to the young brunette. "Why should I date with someone else when the most beautiful girl is in front of me?" He tightened his grip and pressed his lips on her cheek.

Rachel felt his erection on her small back, her heart beating faster. "So, am I…" She bit her tongue.

"I want you to be my girl, Rachel." Finn dropped a chaste kiss on her shoulder. "And I want to be your guy."

This was it. She grabbed his hands and led them to her breasts before turning her head to beg him to give a kiss with her eyes.

Finn, rubbing her nipples with his thumbs gently, followed her order, not thinking about the consequences.

* * *

**A/N: When you have sexual intercourse with your partner while having Chickenpox, you should follow the doctor's order. ;)**

**Please reviews :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews! I know I'm torturing Finn. But I at least stopped him from making the biggest mistake in this chapter for Barbra's sake. I hope you guys'll enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 13 – September/October 2013**

She turned around as he leaned down to press his lips on hers. His tongue begged to be accepted tracing her bottom lip. As soon as she parted her lips, he thrust his tongue into her mouth. She slid her hands under his shirt while he was rubbing her bear back up and down. Then she pulled the shirt up running her fingers along his hard skin. He reluctantly pulled himself back from her to take off his shirt over his head. He hastily threw it over his shoulder before picking her up off the floor hooking her legs with his arms and let them wrap around his torso. Their lips resumed colliding. She cradled his head in her hands running them through his hair as he squeezed her backside. Without breaking apart, he carried her over to her bed and laid her down gently.

"Rachel…" Finn breathed heavily against her lips, his forehead touching hers, his hands running over her body.

"Finn." Rachel whimpered looking into his eyes.

He buried his face in her neck, sucking and soothing, his lips tracing from the back of her ear to her collarbone, his left hand gently massaging her left breast, the right one traveling down to the south. His mouth captured her nipple as his right hand slid into her yoga capri to reach for her nether regions.

She gasped as she felt his fingers rubbing her center over her panties. Her chest's rise and fall got erratic. She moaned as he sucked her breast, his tongue rolling her nipple. She caressed his cheek with one hand, running her fingers of her other hand through his messy hair. She felt herself aroused under her panties. Anxious to be ripped them off, she lifted her hips, allowing him to pull her capri down.

He immediately pulled himself slightly away from her to take her capri off before staring at her almost naked body admiringly. "God, Rachel. You're so beautiful." He was already painfully hard-on. He undid his belt and took his jeans down before kneeling down between her legs. His right forefinger hooked her thong.

She put her left hand on his right one. "Finn." She managed to call him, breathing heavily.

He lifted her left leg caressing with his lips from her ankle to the back of her knee. "What, baby?" He responded between the kisses.

She bit her bottom lip before confessing. "I'm, I'm inexperienced."

Lack of blood and oxygen in his brain, he continued giving the inside of her thigh chaste kisses. "Mmm." When his lips almost reached for her center, few remaining in his brain managed to make him understand what she had just said. "W-what?" Finn perked up his head from her thigh.

"I-I've never done this before." Rachel said in a low voice.

Finn momentarily was at a loss for words, still holding her leg up before managing to let his words out. "W-what do you mean by 'this'? Are you- um, nobody's touched you?"

"No! I mean, Yes!" Rachel blushed. "I just… I-I've never had sex." She tried to get rid of the image of her too embarrassing position which she currently was in out of her head for having this conversation; she was only in her thong and he, only in his boxer-brief kneeling between her legs, still lifted her left leg high up grabbing her ankle.

Finn widened his eyes at her confession, still grabbing her ankle (or gripping more tightly with surprise). "Y-you mean, you're a virgin?"

"Yes." Rachel whispered, biting one of her knuckles of her fist.

Finn felt blood and oxygen battling in his body. Some began to backflow into his brain, some stubbornly decided to stay in his manhood (so he was still hard).

A part of him, he wanted to resume what they had been doing. The girl who he was in love with was almost naked in front of him. Oh, God, look at her perfect tiny body—her perky breast and nipples pointing the ceiling, smooth silky skin, great legs for miles, perfect round ass. And he knew she was aroused as much as he was. He was a guy after all.

But the other part of him repeatedly punched inside of his brain, saying he couldn't do this to her, at least not right now (he hoped, really _really_ hoped).

He didn't care Rachel was a virgin or not. His heart would be filled with bliss if she chose to give him her virginity. Only if she had knew he was Finn Christopher Hudson the music teacher, not Brody Weston the nephew of Mrs. Weston.

He finally put her leg down on the bed and draped the comforter over her naked body. "I'm sorry, Rachel. But I can't."

Rachel widened her eyes. She felt rejected, embarrassed, even humiliated, tears threatening to fall on her cheeks. He was Brody Weston, the ladies' man, after all. Having sex meant having fun for him. Not involved virgins. Maybe never. She grabbed the comforter tightly around her chest as she averted her gaze from him. "You should leave."

"What?" Finn was taken aback at her word. "No, Rachel. I can explain!"

"No, I get it." Rachel bit her lower lip, trying to let tears not fall. "Please, leave."

"Rachel, it's not like that." Seeing tears almost falling on her cheek, Finn was about to reach for her to hold in his arms.

"No, I don't want to hear whatever you want to say right now. Please, please just leave." She crawled under the comforter.

"Rach…" Finn ran a hand through his hair, wondering how he soothed her and told her the truth.

"Don't Rach me!" Rachel yelled at Finn, lifting her head up. "Get out!"

"Rachel, just hear me ou…"

As Finn was about to talk to her, a loud knock came from the door.

"_Rachel? Are you okay?_"

Finn groaned as he heard the voice. He totally forgot Jesse was sleeping on the sofa in her living room.

"_Can I come in?_"

"No!"

"No!"

Hearing a male voice along with Rachel's, Jesse wrenched the door open. "Well, well, well, Naked Man." His gaze sifted to the lower half of Finn's body. "Impressive." He said in a chilly manner, folding his arms across his chest. "But I believe Rachel wants you to leave."

Finn felt blood boiling with half embarrassment and half anger at Rachel's ex before hurriedly grabbing his clothes off of the floor and putting them on.

"You, get out of here too, Jesse!" Rachel scolded, but Jesse didn't seem to move. "Get. The. Hell. Out!" With that, she got into the duvet.

As soon as finishing clothes on, Finn yanked Jesse out of the bed room and dragged him to outside of her apartment.

Jesse shook off Finn's hand from his arm and smoothed his attire. "What the hell?" He glared up at the taller guy. "You, remember this. She's special. You don't deserve her."

"You think I don't know how special she is?" Finn stepped closer to the douche, clenching his fists, gritting his teeth. "And you think I think I deserve her?"

Jesse straightened up. "Oh, so you know you're not worthy for her." He smirked which caused Finn more annoyed.

"Oh yeah." Finn got up in his face. "And _you_, don't deserve her either." He saw Jesse scrunch his face. "Don't think I don't know what you did to her." He heard from Tina at Mike's restaurant about the story as to why Rachel and Jesse had broken up. "You'd better stay away from her." With that, he unlocked his (Brody's aunt's) front door and shut it behind him.

* * *

Santana didn't like to wake up early in the morning. But unless the show started (which happened to be the next day), she couldn't make time in the evening. For the very reason, she patiently waited for him outside of the school at 7 am, leaning against the fence at a little distant from the front gate.

A few middle aged people who seemed to be a teacher passed by her at 7:09. A few young women entered the school at 7:14, A few more older men climbed the stoop chatting excitedly at 7:22. Around at 7:32, kids with their parents started to approach the school.

And finally the guy, who was trudging along with heavy feet, Santana had been waiting for passed by at 7:35.

"Frankenteen."

Finn stopped at the place momentarily as he heard his old nickname in high school (well, actually which is the one the only one person called him, he remembered now) from behind. He slowly turned around.

Sure it was, Santana Lopez as she was.

Santana was one of Jenny's friends. As far as he remembered, she was one of her best friends and cheerio like Jenny. He didn't exchange words with her much, but when he did, she always called him names like Finnocence, Fetus Face, Squishy Tits or something like that.

"What do you want, Satan?" Finn asked bluntly.

Santana, folding her arms across her chest, snorted. "Who are you to talk to me like that?" She walked over towards him and stopped just ten inches away from him. "I know what you're doing, Finnocence."

Finn flinched. "What's that supposed to mean?"

As Santana began to catechize, the young brunette called out to Finn from behind.

"Hi, Finn, good morning!" Marley greeted cheerfully as she made her way to the place where Finn and Santana were standing. "You are a… parent of…?" She sifted her gaze to the Latina.

Santana narrowed her eyes, shooting a sharp glare at the young girl's hand which, she didn't know it was unconscious or not, rubbed Finn's arm up and down flirtatiously. "Oh, you are the girl." She smiled at her mercilessly. "I'm really afraid to say that, but Brody's not interested." She saw the young girl having a confused look. "Oh, I'm sorry. Finn's not interested."

Marley frowned before looking up at her hope-soon-to-be-her-boyfriend quizzically, still her hand on Finn's arm. "What is she talking about?"

Finn pinched the bridge of his nose. "Santana."

"Oh, you _are_ interested in her too?" Santana pretended to be surprised, putting her hand on her mouth. "Then Rachel'll accept the fact that you were just fooling around."

"Who's Rach-"

"I'm not fooling around with her!" Finn said desperately, raising his voice before Marley could have finished. "I really am in love with her! I love Rachel!" He declared out loud.

Marley widened her eyes and finally pulled her hand away from Finn.

"You got that?" Santana nodded at the young brunette with a satisfied smirk. "He's taken. So get the fuck out of my sight, Zach Galifianakis."

Daunted by her crude comment, Marley benumbed at the place.

"That's very rude of you, Santana. She's nothing to do with you or Rachel." He turned his head to Marley. "Sorry, I have something to deal with here. Could you leave us alone?"

Marley just nodded and departed from the place heartbroken.

Santana assured Marley disappeared out of her sight before resuming the conversation she wanted to have with the bipolar guy. "So, isn't this whole Brody thing out of revenge for Jenny's Baby Gate?" She saw Finn let out a deep sigh. "You'd better not lie to me, Frankenteen. I'm holding your another secret, which you were sleeping around in college with a fake name."

"W-what? H-how did you know?" Fidgeted, Finn stammered.

"Oh, believe me, I've got a source of my own." Santana smirked. Actually, she once had thought that she would be a detective or lawyer or something which her skill to dig for information she wanted was brought out.

Finn shook his head before taking a deep breath. "I love Rachel. That's why I stopped her, uh, you know, when we were…"

"Having sex?" Santana finished his sentence matter-of-factly. She saw him just nod, rubbing the back of his neck, looking down at the street. "But I don't understand why you didn't tell her your real name."

"Look, Santana. I really want to explain everything, but I have to go, the first class is beginning in any minute. I'll tell you everything later. I promise." Finn pleaded.

"Alright, you've had enough for today. I'm letting you go for now." Santana handed her business card put between her index finger and middle one out to Finn. "Call me later." With that, she turned around and walked away.

Finn let out a relieved sigh and dashed into the school as he heard the chine ring.

* * *

The opening night went off without a hitch despite Rachel was depressed. But she was Rachel Barbra Berry, who was a _very_ talented actress. There was no way that she ever let anyone, herself included, ruin the day of her debut on Broadway (off-Broadway actually). And, _of course_, she (and her cast mates) drew enthusiastic applause from the audience.

But now in the middle of the opening night after party, the depression began enveloping her whole body. Thank God, Blaine dragged Kurt out of the party venue for whatever he wanted to do with Brody's close friend. She really didn't want to see anyone who knew Brody. Not that she knew others.

"Rachela, we're heading back to the hotel." Hiram patted on her shoulder. "You really were brilliant up there, Princess." He hugged his daughter.

"Thank you for coming, Daddy." She hugged him back. She faced her other dad. "Dad, thank you." She gave him a hug too.

Leroy rubbed her small back up and down. "There are plenty of fish in the sea, you know."

Rachel took a deep breath. "I don't care if I died virgin." She murmured.

"Oh, please. Don't say such a thing." Hiram rubbed her arm gently. "We're going to find a guy for you if you like? By your next holiday, when you come home in Lima?"

Leroy nodded affirmatively. "I think that is a good idea. You know, Rachel, there are a bunch of single guys in our law firm. One of them might be the right one for you."

"To have sex." Hiram added.

"Daddy!" Rachel hissed, her face turning crimson.

"Hiram." Leroy admonished. "I didn't mean that."

"But they are living in Lima. I don't think they are moving to New York for Rachel instantly. Which means not marriage but having fun, right?" Hiram pointed out nonchalantly.

Rachel shook her head, wondering when her dads got to be so acceptable for their daughter's sexual activities, while her dads were discussing her dating life.

"Rachel? Have you seen Santana?" Tina called out to her as she approached Berry's family.

"No. I mean, I saw her when we got to here, but I had to make the rounds, so I didn't…" When Rachel was informing, her cell phone went off. She tilted her head as she saw an unknown number on the screen.

"Well, good night, sweetpie." Hiram greeted at her kissing her head.

"Good night, Rachela." Leroy followed a course of action his significant other did.

"Good night, dads." With that, Rachel answered the phone. "Hello?"

"_Hello!_"

Rachel frowned as she heard a female voice which she definitely hadn't heard in her life. "Who is this?"

"_Oh, sorry. My name is Brittany._"

"Hi, Brittany." Rachel used her brain frantically whether she met her somewhere in the past or not.

"_I know you don't know me. I'm Brody's girlfriend. But I think I'll be his ex, because he cheated on me with a house keeper. I walked in on them having sex the other day."_

What? Finn said he wanted her to be his girl despite he had a girlfriend? And he was going to have sexual intercourse with Rachel nonetheless? And, and, he cheated on his girlfriend, which meant he actually had sex with another woman beside his girlfriend and Rachel?

Rachel's brain almost exploded with anger, but she had chest pain feeling like a knot at the same time. Tears threatened to fall from her big brown eye.

"_And I think you should know that the guy who has been walking Brody's aunt's dog isn't Brody at all._"

Rachel blinked a few times. "W-what did you say?" She managed to ask, sniffling.

"_The guy who's been walking Rusty isn't Brody. His name is Finn. He owed Brody's favor on account of Brody helping Finn out of trouble, which involved drugs if you want to know, when they were in college. Finn is just pretending to be Brody on account of Brody not being able to come back to think he didn't care, so he had Finn do it for him._"

Having heard the guy cheated on the girl named Brittany wasn't Finn, Rachel wiped her eyes with her thumb, relieved. Finn didn't have a girlfriend, right? But it was short lived.

"_If Brody's aunt ever wakes up, you should tell her what Brody did. She should definitely write his name out her will because he doesn't deserve any of her money. Brody Weston is a horrible person and anyone who is friends with him probably is too. I know it because Brody told me Finn was sleeping around with many women using fake names when he was in college. One of the names was Lando Calrissian. What kind of name did he use? Couldn't he come up with a better name like Lord Tubbington?_"

Rachel couldn't hold herself anymore. Tear after tear was running on her cheeks.

"_All men are pigs. I hope they die. Things would way better if only women were left. We can sexually satisfy each other as much as men do to women._"

As soon as Rachel hung up, she rushed into the restroom.

Tina, who had been watching her friend hearing some horrible story (she imagined) on the phone, ran after Rachel. She slowly pushed the restroom door open before she found the brunette sobbing in one of the cubicles. "Rachel, what happened? What did whoever on the phone say?"

Rachel brew out a breath out of her trembling lips and began reciting the story she just had heard from the Brody's girl.

Outside of the restroom, Jesse put his ear on the door to eavesdrop the conversation between Rachel and Tina. When Rachel finished telling the whole thing about Brody and Finn, he silently walked away from the place smirking, thinking he couldn't ask for a better chance to get his girl back.

As Jesse returned the party floor, he saw Santana entering the room with Finn. He straightened up and walked over towards them. "I knew you didn't deserve Rachel."

"Jesse, mind your own business. So, back off." Santana threatened.

"Oh, you don't know about him? Or you're going to have fun with him too? I thought you were batting for the other team." Jesse snorted. "Oh, I got it." He turned his face to Finn. "You're not satisfied with straight women, or one-on-one games."

Feeling blood boiling, Finn stepped closer to Jesse. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Believe me, I know I am." Jesse folded his arms with a smirk.

"No, you don't." Finn clenched his fists before grabbing the shirt around his collar.

"You're really a man-whore, Lando."

As Jesse tried to shake Finn's grip off roughly from his neck, ignoring Santana's shout '_Don't listen to him!_' the taller man threw his fist at the douche's face.

Jesse, who had fallen down on the floor with an impact putting his hand on his already reddened cheek, got up before smoothing her clothes and announcing. "You should know that I'm going to pursue litigation against you for the pain and suffering, as well as the medical costs. Everybody in this room witnessed you punched my face." Then he called the security guard to let Finn out of the place.

"Bring it on!" Finn retorted thrashing his legs about as the guards hopped him with their much bigger arms to take him out of the party.

At the very moment Finn was being dragged to outside, Rachel and Tina returned to the party floor. The place was still in uproar. "What's going on?" Rachel asked a guy who was standing nearby.

"Jesse was struck in the face."

"By whom?" Tina cut it.

The guy nodded at the entrance.

Rachel gasped widening her eyes as she saw Finn struggling between two big men. Then her eyes met his.

"_Rachel! Rachel!_"

Rachel didn't want to deal with him right now.

Ignoring his calling her name, she whirled around and rushed into the restroom again.

* * *

**Please review :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 14 – October 2013**

Since the opening night, she hadn't come home. He assumed that she might be staying at Tina's or her other friend's apartment to be avoiding him. She had been ignoring his phone calls either since he left her apartment with Jesse. But today would be different. He hoped. He guessed that she would be coming home at some point because it was closed day.

Finn felt his heart beating faster as he got closer to the apartment building. He could see her living room light was on. He tightened his grip holding a bunch of white tulips for which he had been looking all over the city for hours after school since it was not the season—Kurt said the white tulips were the best to use when apologizing, so he had to find them. He _needed_ to find them. Today was the day that he could finish his unfinished business which he would have done at the opening night after party. He was going to tell her the truth and declare his love for her.

He took a deep breath and wiped his hand on his pants before knocking on her front door.

No answer.

He knocked a couple more times.

Still no answer.

"Rachel? Rach?" Finn called out, banging on her door repeatedly. "I can see your living room light is on. Please answer the door. Or your phone? Please?" He begged. "Because I can make it right, if you would give me the chance. Please, Rachel. Please, please, open the door." His forehead leaned against the door as he passed over the door surface as if he had caressed his girl's cheek.

He thought that he heard something ringing.

But it didn't take more than two second to realize that the sound was only in his ear.

He sighed in defeated. Slumping down his shoulder, he turned around and walked away from her apartment to unlock Mrs. Weston's apartment.

When he was about to unlock the front door, he found something was wrong.

The key didn't fit the lock.

"Fuck it."

Finn cursed under his breath, running a hand through his hair and pacing around the hallway. _Of course_ she changed the lock. After a few minutes back and forth, he pressed the elevator, determined for the doorman to get him inside.

But the doorman opened his mouth as he saw Finn walking over to him before the depressed guy could have said something first.

"Mr. Weston, I mean, Mr. Hudson. I'm sorry but you can't go inside." The man who spoke in a strong Russian accent said with a sympathetic smile. "Much as I'd like to get you in, you know, you're not either Mrs. Weston's relative or family. So…"

Finn let out a deep sigh. "It's okay, I get it." He gazed up to the ceiling for a moment before stretching out the bouquet to the Russian. "Could you pass these to Ms. Berry later?"

"Certainly." Nikolay took them before adding. "If you're worried about Mrs. Weston's pets, Mr. Berry said she would take care of them." He informed.

Then Finn's cell phone went off which led the conversation with Nikolay to get dependent. "Sorry." Finn apologized before answering the phone without checking who was calling. "Hello?"

"_You are a dead man, Hudson._"

"Don't you have the courtesy to say like 'Hello' or 'What's up' or something, anything?" Finn said in a grouchy tone. "What do you want?"

"_You're messing around with my aunt's next-door neighbor UNDER MY NAME? What the fuck? Are you mental? I told you to walk Aunt Hilda's dog, that's all, just walk the stupid dog!_"

"I'm not messing around with Rachel!" Finn huffed. "Look at you. I am the one to take care of your aunt's pets instead of someone, who is so busy with banging the swimsuit model." He retorted.

"_Then why am I getting the phone call from my agent saying that the girl named Tanya or Tyna or something has been calling around asking a bunch of questions about me? Specifically, how can I be in New York going out with the annoying girl who you call Rachel in a friendly manner, when I'm supposed to be in Hawaii, doing Brittany?_"

"W-what?" Finn choked. "Tina called your agent?"

"_Didn't I say that, did I? Moron. This is bad, really bad. I'm in a bad place here and you're just making things worse. Why couldn't you have just done what I asked for you? Now if my aunt wakes up, she's going to know I didn't fly back up there to take care of her stupid pets._"

Finn felt blood rush from his face. He didn't care Mrs. Weston would know Brody hadn't returned to take care of her pets. All he cared about was Rachel. Now he understood why she had never answered the door and his phone calls. Not just because of the other night when he and Rachel was attempting to have sex. She found out. Before he could ever told her the truth. Oh, no. This was much much much worse than he would have ever imagined.

"How was it found out?" Finn asked wheezing.

"_It was Brittany. She snapped. She caught me messing around with a house keeper. Which was so totally not my fault, if I might add. The woman wouldn't keep her hands off me._"

Finn rolled his eyes at Brody's lame excuse. "Get to the point, bastard."

"_I've never mentioned a marriage or commitment to Brittany, but she got it all wrong. Then she yelled at me saying she was going to tell my aunt's neighbor the truth in order for Aunt Hilda to write off my name from her will. I'm sure that animal-loving weirdo's got a call from her._"

"YOU are a dead man, Brody. It was totally your fault!" Finn ran a hand through his messy hair. "What were you thinking? If you didn't cheat on her, she would've never done that!" He raised his voice.

"_Hello? Weren't you listening to what I've said? Brittany and I are not exclusive. I have every right to choose whom and where I bang._"

Finn wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"_You can't tell me you're upset about this. I'm the one whose ass is grass here. If that bitch of an aunt of mine wakes up and hears about this, I'm dead meat. Every cent she has will go straight to the ASPCA when she croaks."_

"You really are a bastard." Finn shook his head.

"_Whatever. Anyway, you might be seeing me sooner than you think. It's time I took care of this once and for all, the way I should've from the…_"

"But you can't use the spare." Finn cut in.

"_Why not?_"

"The lock's been changed." Finn informed.

"_What?_"

"The lock's been changed." Finn repeated, slightly raising his voice. "I think because we were caught lying."

"_What am I supposed to do then?_"

"I don't know, man. Ask the doorman or Rachel. But," Finn paused. "Don't talk to her with that attitude. This is not her fault." He warned.

"_You're really attached to the chick, aren't you? Is she that good in bed? Don't answer. I'm sure I'll be figuring it out by myself._"

Brody's slutty tone made Finn's blood boil. "Don't," he threatened in a low voice, "ever think about that."

"_Dude, relax. I was just kidding. You really think I'm gonna tap that girl who I'm sure will rat me out to my aunt?_"

Beyond annoyed, but Finn tried suppress his wrath on the jerk as he heard Brody chuckling. "Look, I gotta go. Don't fuck around this time, you got it?" He pressed.

"_Okay, okay. Don't get your balls in an uproar, Finnister._"

* * *

"What's this color again?" Santana wrinkled her nose. "Do we really have to be in this hideously unflattering color?"

"Of course we do!" Rachel said out loud to her co-star who was now in a fitting room. "And it's carafe. The theme color is orange gold. Bridesmaid's dress should be faded into the color scheme." She reminded her, not bothering to add that she didn't like the color of dress. Not one bit. It was so not for her.

"Have you talked to Hudson?" Santana asked as she emerged out of the fitting room. "How do I look?"

"The color doesn't seem that hideous on you." Rachel ignored the first question. "Honestly, I think your exotic beauty looks all the finer in that color." She praised curtly, her gaze out of focus on the Latina.

Santana narrowed her eyes as she saw the tiny brunette zone out. "Have you tried to talk to Hudson?" She repeated. But all her stubborn friend did was setting her lips in the thin line. "Berry." Her voice was tinged with an alert.

"I don't wanna talk about him." Rachel averted her gaze from the Latina, peeking out of the corner of her eye the other bridesmaids who were Tina's college friends chatting at another fitting room.

"You ought to listen to him." Santana pushed as she checked her own back shot in the mirror. "I'm sure he has a reason."

"If you're so sure, why don't you tell me?" Rachel huffed, folding her arms across her chest.

"It's not my place to tell." Santana faced the mirror to look at herself before saying to the reflection of the tiny woman who was walking over towards the sofa to sit. "Just listen to whatever he's going to say."

"There's no guarantee that he isn't going to lie this time." Rachel bit her lower lips. "How much dejected do you think I felt when he said no to me?" She wanted to cry remembering the time she had almost threw herself at the stranger who she had wanted to believe that he would be the one for her. "How much fooled do you think I felt when Brittany called?" She raised her voice. The more she spoke, the less she could control herself. "And how do you know he's not Jonas!?" She gasped at her own words, widening her eyes. She cupped her mouth with her hands.

Santana frowned before turning around. "What are you talking about?" Nothing came from Rachel's mouth. She asked the other bridesmaids and the clerk to leave them alone for a while before talking to the girl who was burying in her hands. "Who's Jonas?"

Rachel took a deep breath. "He's the reason why I'm still virgin." Then she confided the horrible memory to her co-star, not bothering to wipe her tears falling down on her cheeks. "I swore at that time, Rachel Babra Berry was never going to be fooled again." She wiped her eyes and blew her nose loudly with a handkerchief before straighten up with dignity.

Massaging her temple with her forefinger, thinking that it might take much longer for Finchel to reconcile than she imagined, Santana looked up at the ceiling before sitting down next to Rachel. "Alright. As I said a little before, this is not my place to tell. But I'm going to say one thing." She pulled her handkerchief from her purse and handed it out to her friend. "Hudson is definitely not Jonas."

"How can you be that sure?" Rachel blew her nose again, with the Latina's handkerchief this time.

Santana scrunched her face a little before making a straight face. "Because I know it."

Rachel frowned her eyebrows. "How do you _know_ that he's not like Jonas? Have you talked to him? Without telling me?" She felt betrayed, remembering Santana had brought him to the opening night after party. "Are you on his side?" She crossed her arms in front of her.

"Berry, calm down. I'm not on his side." Santana defended. "I talked to him before everything came out. I was always suspecting the guy who actually walked Mrs. Weston's dog was not for real." She sighed, "When Blaine mentioned you called him Finn not Brody and someone called him Huds, I kinda found the last piece of the puzzle."

Rachel widened her eyes. "You mean, you knew who he was?"

"Kind of." Santana stood up from the sofa. "I know someone who got hurt him badly in high school."

Rachel sifted on the sofa uncomfortably, feeling tightness in her chest. She didn't want to picture another woman with Finn even though she was his past. Besides, she had no right to be jealous since she was not his girl anymore, right? Or were there times when she was his to begin with?

"I think he's gonna tell you not only the truth but everything about himself." Santana stretched out her hand for Rachel to get out of her sitting position. "Just give him a chance."

* * *

"Hey." Knocking gently, Finn poked his head into the hospital room which Quinn had been in since she gave a birth two days before, holding the gift box containing New York Mets Speaker Bear. It was less dramatic than the first time—she had given a birth to Beth—even though the call from Puck was at 2 am. Nevertheless, to him, it was a kind of distraction from the issue at hand which he didn't think would head to the direction he had ever hoped any time soon.

"Hey." Quinn sifted her gaze her second child in her arms to the tall guy at the doorway. Puck, sitting beside the bed, turned his head to the same direction as his wife did, grinning goofily but proudly.

Finn stepped inside and approached the bed. "Have you named him?" He handed the box to the new born's father.

"Thanks." Puck nodded, taking the gift from his best friend. "Eli Nathaniel Puckerman." He faced his first son and sighed contently.

"Hey, Eli. I'm Uncle Finn." Finn leaned down and gently touched the little man's nose with his forefinger. He chuckled as he saw him scrunch his face. "Can I hold him?" He asked.

"Sure." Quinn held her newborn son up to Finn. "Support his head with your arm."

"Okay." Finn carefully picked Eli up from Quinn's arms and managed to allow the baby's head to rest inside the inner of the elbow with the length of the body resting on the forearm. The newborn widened his eyes and stared at a new big creature other than his parents firmly. "He's definitely Puck's mini-me." He chuckled.

"Yep, Puckasaurus gene totally won this time!" Puck smirked. "I'm sure he's made to be a heartbreaker like his father."

"I really hope Eli will think of his father as an example of how not to behave." Quinn rolled her eyes as Finn put her son back in her arms.

When they started to argue the pros and cons of circumcision, a nurse walked in the room to inform Quinn of the time for taking a shower. After she got taken in a wheelchair by the nurse and the new born was settled in his bassinet, chatting between two old friends was interrupted by Puck's beeper.

"I have to make a phone call." Puck stood up. "Stay here with my son. I'll be back soon. Don't leave."

"Don't worry about it. I'll take care of him." Finn stuck out his chest.

He walked over towards the bassinet as his father left the room. Then he took him in his arms again and he sat back on the chair.

"Hey, little man." Finn talked to the tiny person whose hazel eyes just stared at the amber eyes. "You really look like your father. But don't listen to him, about girls, alright?" He chuckled as the baby giggled before sighing remembering he had been doing to his love of his life. "I guess you should not listen to me either because I'm a liar. I mean, I've been a liar for two month."

As Finn started to tell the story to Eli, Kurt strode in the hospital hallway holding his flip cam determined to record the new member of Puckerman's in one hand, the big gift basket in the other hand.

When he got to the outside of the room where Quinn was supposed to lie down on the bed, he heard a male murmuring voice from the inside. He peeked through the gap in the door before finding his step brother talking to the new born baby in his arms. He smiled at the picture of the two of them and silently pressed the button of his flip cam to record them from the gap.

Carol whispered in his ear from behind. "What are you doing?"

Kurt gestured for her to be quiet before pointing the inside of the room.

Carol peeked in the same way as Kurt did and smiled with teary eyes, wishing someday her son would hold his own son like that and hopefully the girl beside him would be the tiny brunette.

* * *

Rachel was tapping his forefinger on the kitchen counter irritably, waiting for the irresponsible guy who didn't show up on time he had said he would. It was already 11 am. He would have visited at 10. Who was she kidding? Of course he would have been late. The guy, who didn't bother to cut his vacation short for his aunt. He should thank God she wasn't an office worker.

She let out a sigh with annoyance as she stood up from the stool where she had been sitting for about 30 minutes. She walked in her bedroom to change her decent clothes for welcoming visitors into ones for yoga practice, deciding that he wouldn't stop by her apartment to be given the key of Mrs. Weston's apartment.

When she was in the middle of doing her routine after warming up, loud knocks came from the front door. Rachel cursed under her breath since her body and mind finally started to get relax from the previous irritation. She grabbed a towel and hung it around her neck as she made her way to the door to answer, too much annoyed to remember her current attire.

Sure it was. The guy, the real Brody (or was he? How did she know he was for real?) was standing there as she peeked through the peephole. She opened her door and folded her arm across her chest.

Brody let out a low whistle as he saw the girl who he had thought was the most annoying girl in this planet. He looked at her up and down, who was wearing low rise black tight leggings and a tight black tank which were exposing her flat stomach. "Now I can see why Hudson tried to bang."

Rachel wrinkled her nose in disgust. "You must be Brody, but can I see your ID first?" Ignoring his crude comment, she asked bluntly, stretched out her hand.

Intrigued, Brody chuckled. "I like women who are a controlist, you know." He fished his ID from his wallet before handing it out to the touchy woman in front of him.

Rachel tucked a pile of her hair behind her ear. "It's 'controlling,' 'controlist' isn't a word." She took his ID and examined it intently before handing it back to him. She saw him wearing a pair of tussel shoes without socks—maybe those were Gucci as she had imagined at first.

As Brody put his ID back into his wallet, he leaned his arms against the doorframe. "Are you satisfied?" He grinned.

Ignoring his flirty grin, Rachel straightened up. "Please wait here. I'm going to get the key for you." She turned on her heel, not noticing that Brody glued on her backside.

After less than a minute, Rachel, putting on her pink hooded sweatshirt, emerged out of her bedroom and returned to the doorway. "Here you are." She held out the key.

"Thanks." Brody smirked, taking the key from her. "See you around." With that he walked over towards his aunt's apartment door.

Rachel decided to take a shower to wash away his awfully disgusting dirty look after closing her door thinking what Brittany (or any other women) had seen in that guy.

After approximately 43 minutes later, refreshed, she walked into the kitchen and started to make her lunch. When she almost finished, she heard loud knocks on her front door again. She rolled her eyes as she saw through the peephole Brody standing in front of her door. "What do you want?" She said putting her hand on her hip after opening the door.

"You were the person who was taking care of my aunt's pets until yesterday or this morning, right?" Brody asked in an accusing tone.

"I walked Rusty in this morning." Rachel frowned. "Why?"

"One of the cats is drinking out of everything it can find right now, and the whole house is flooded with water!" Brody folded his arms across his chest.

"As far as I remember," Rachel huffed, "Napoléon and Ms. Bonaparte were well-behaved and the apartment was not definitely flooded in this morning." Rachel wore a sullen look on her face, but she began worrying about the cat. "Let me take a look." She thrust him aside to make her way to Mrs. Weston's door.

Rachel gasped as she entered the more spacious apartment. As Brody had said, the whole floor was soaked. She tried to trace back to the culprit which had caused the flood. Then she saw the pantry's door slightly open and there were some pools there. She walked over to the pantry carefully not to expand the damage. When she let herself in the pantry, she found every water bottle there falling out of the shelves and Napoléon licking water leaking out of them.

Rachel faced Brody who was following her. "You need to get Napoléon to the vet right away."

To her surprise, Brody said back to her nonchalantly. "Not me, babe. I've got places to be and people to do."

Rachel hung her mouth open for a while. "First of all, I'm not your babe. Number two, why are you here when you have no intention of taking care of your aunt's pets?" She raised her voice, putting her hands on her hips. "And third… never mind." She shook her head. "I'll take care of him myself." With that, she pushed him aside at the doorway of the pantry to look for a towel and a carrier, thinking if it were Finn he never would say such an atrocious thing.

When she was about to walk out of the apartment with the poor cat, Rusty whined at her with sad eyes. Maybe he thought that the owner's nephew was a horrible caretaker too. And maybe he missed Finn too. Rachel sighed as she gave an apologetic look to the dog. "Napoléon needs to be examined, Rusty." She said to the dog, seeing out of the corner of her eye Brody chatting on the phone. "But I'll be back soon."

* * *

**Please review :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending me reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 15 – October 2013**

Rachel slammed the door of her green room hard to let her bottled up feelings out from her little body. She couldn't believe that Brody was _that_ irresponsible and detestable. He already had showed her his true color in a span of five hours since she first met him. Mrs. Weston was right. And all the information about him Santana had gotten must be right too.

When she returned from the vet with Napoléon and the medical supplies, she told Brody about his condition—poor cat, he was diagnosed with diabetes—and showed him what he had to do; how to fill the syringe and how to give the cat his shot of insulin. But all he seemed interested in was her obsession with medical drama TV programs. She was trying to explain to him how important it was that Napoléon would be given the correct dosage, why filling the syringe all the way up to the number two instead of units two was so dangerous! He annoyingly kept asking how she knew those things, which show and episode she learnt them from or something like that.

Thinking she should have kept Napoléon around in her apartment or brought him here instead, she shook her head changing her clothes into a simple black dress as she heard a few knocks on the door.

"Come in."

Tina opened before putting her head out of the door. "Hey, what was that about?"

"What was what about?" Rachel asked in answer as she walked over to the chair in front of the mirror.

"The whole building shook when you shut the door." Tina entered the room before sitting in the arm chair. "I thought an earthquake or something." She giggled.

"Oh." Rachel didn't realize how hard she had slammed. "Sorry." She shrank a little in the chair, looking apologetically at the reflection of her co-star.

"Was that because of Finn?" Tina cautiously asked. "What did he do this time?"

"No." Rachel sifted on the chair uncomfortably as Tina mentioned the name. "He didn't do anything."

That was right. He didn't do anything. He stopped calling or texting her a week ago.

Finn had had been sending her flowers, calling and texting every single day since everything came out, apologizing and begging her to hear him out. Her thought had gone back and forth as to answering the phone or replying to his texts. But she was too upset (and stubborn) to answer—also she felt embarrassed with the night he had rejected having sexual intercourse with her since she was the one who initiated it at that night.

Then suddenly he stopped those things.

It was bothering her much more than when he had kept calling her before. She hadn't seen him for more than a fortnight.

But she couldn't encourage herself to make a move, even though a few days ago Santana told her to talk to him. The Latina also said that he was not like Jonas. But wasn't he really? Then what about his days in college? He used to sleep around with girls under fake names, according to Brittany. What was the difference between this time and his days in college?

She could easily picture that so many girls—pretty girls—were attracted to him. Of course he could be with whoever he wanted. How was she supposed to know that he wasn't like that now? How about the young brunette in the school hallway? Didn't she say that she and Finn had lunch together every day? And if she were one of his girls, why should he choose a not-pretty-vertically-challenged-girl-with-a-comparatively-large-nose like her over pretty girls?

She didn't want to know the answer because she definitely would be devastated if she found him not feel the same way as she did. So she decided that why he stopped trying to reach out to her was because it spoke for itself and she was ten days worthy for him after all.

Thinking about it, she felt tight knots in her chest

But she missed him. She missed him so much.

Rachel sighed and whirled around the chair to face the Asian co-star. "No, it was about Brody." She told Tina everything about her five hours torment with Mrs. Weston's irresponsible nephew. "It was very bizarre that he kept asking m… Oh my Gosh!" She widened her eyes with some realization, cupping her mouth with a hand.

"What?" Tina sprang to her feet with surprise at her friend's demeanor. "What's wrong?"

"He's going to kill that cat!" Rachel cried out.

Tina uncomfortably laughed off to make her friend calm down. "Relax, Rachel. However terrible he is, he's not able to do such a cruel thing."

"You don't get it. You don't see how he treats them." Rachel stood up from the chair and started pacing around. "What am I going to do? Maybe I sneak into the apartment to take Rusty and the cats out and keep them with me in secret?"

"Rachel, calm down." Tina patted Rachel's shoulder to stop her from pacing as one of the staff knocked on the door to inform them of 30 minutes prior to the show time. "We're going to talk about this tomorrow, okay?" She walked over to the door before turning her head towards the brunette, saying over her shoulder. "Don't you forget you're going to help me purchasing bridesmaids' gifts for the rehearsal dinner, do you?"

"Of course, I remember." Rachel assured, forcing herself to smile at the soon-to-be-married.

* * *

Finn was up against a wall.

For first ten days since his lie was revealed, he had tried reaching out for her every single day. Sending flowers, making a phone call (even he left voice mail messages), texting, and showing up at her door. But Rachel had never answered. So he chose a new strategy for change. He decided to wait for her outside of the back door of the theater.

With no luck, Jesse St. Jackass of all people first found him standing there and whispered something in the security guard's ear evilly smirking at him. Which resulted in his leaving forcibly before making a scene (Finn showed up next day but the guard detected him quickly and threatened to call in the police).

So he had to work on Plan C. He offered to take the nephew of Mrs. Weston's place to take care of her pets since Brody didn't stop bitching about them. If Finn moved into his aunt apartment again, he thought that he definitely could bump into Rachel accidentally on purpose at some point. He even said kindly that he could reserve a room in The Plaza for the heartless bastard instead of staying at his tiny apartment.

But Brody somehow didn't like the idea and refused his offer.

He got stuck.

Trying the hardest not to pierce the wall or something with an angry fist, Finn screamed into one of the cushions covered expensive fabric as he punched another one of them.

"Don't abuse my cushions, Finn!" Kurt chided, glancing at his step-brother from the dining table. "Those are made to order in Paris." He looked back at the screen of his laptop and resume editing the video which the newborn baby of the Puckerman's was in. He heard the 6 foot 3 groaning and plumping his back down on the sofa. "I told you…"

"Don't," Finn cut in, "start it again." He stared at the ceiling and sighed.

Kurt turned his head towards Finn. "I can ask Blaine to call her out to have dinner or something, you know, to create an opportunity for you to meet her. I'm sure Blaine's going to help you."

Finn closed his eyes before saying without looking at Kurt. "Thanks, but no thanks."

"Why?" Kurt frowned. "You're out of options."

Finn slowly got himself up out of the sofa and stared at nowhere. "It's over." He murmured. "Probably it's all for the best."

Kurt arched his eyebrow, resting his arm on the back of the chair. "What do you mean by that?"

Finn blew out a deep sigh, still looking into the space. "I don't know what the girl Brody was banging said to Rachel, but if she wants to believe that girl instead she does hear me out, then it's probably better that we part ways."

"Okay." Kurt said nonchalantly before turning his head to his laptop to resume what he had been doing before.

"What?" Finn perked up his head before looking up and facing the dining room where his step brother was sitting and doing something he had no idea.

"I said 'Okay.'" Kurt repeated without looking at him.

To be honest, Kurt didn't think that it was okay, like at all. His giant ass of a brother should explain the situation which he had forced to be in with his own mouth. Unfortunately he didn't know what Rachel was thinking because she seemed to be avoiding Blaine for a while since she got to know that he and his lovely gel haired man started dating. But as far as he knew, from what Blaine told him, Rachel was in love with Finn as much as Finn with Rachel.

"It's not okay, Kurt, like at all!" Finn suddenly raised his voice, jumping out of the sofa. He began pacing around the room, running a hand through his messy hair before stopping himself and turned his head towards Kurt. "I want her back." He grabbed his jacket and made his way over to the front door. "But I need a drink first." With that he left Kurt's apartment before his step brother could have said something.

Kurt sighed. He stared at the screen of his lap top which an image his moron of a brother was currently holding the newborn in his arm murmuring something was on for a while.

Kurt's eyes sparkled.

"This is it!"

He in a hurry ran into his den to pick a DVD disk up from his bureau.

* * *

"How about this?" Rachel picked a golden object up from a shelf and turned around to face her co-star to show it.

"What's that for?" Tina approached Rachel to take a close look at it.

"It's Art Deco Sphere, you know, to add whimsy to your desk or extra sparkle to your mantel." Rachel explained. "I like this because…"

"Because it's like a star." Tina cut in and finished her friend's sentence. "I know, gold stars are a metaphor and metaphors are important." She shook her head. "But not for everyone, Rachel. Besides, it's over the budget." She showed the price tag to the brunette. "It's fifty dollars. Thirty per each, remember?"

Rachel sighed. "Alright. How about take a break? Then we'll come back?"

As Tina suggested 'Physical GraffiTea,' her cell phone went off. Rachel nodded affirmatively at her best friend before answering the phone. "Hello?"

"_Hi, Rachel! It's Brittany!_"

"Oh, hello, Brittany." Rachel glanced at Tina who sported questioning expression on her face. She shrugged at her co-star. "How are you doing?" She brought her attention back to the phone as they began heading to the café.

"_I'm okay, thank you. I really hate to ask, but do you know there's any way I could stay somewhere for a couple of weeks until I find my own place? I don't have anywhere to stay, you know, because I was going to move in with Brody so I canceled the lease on my apartment before going to Hawaii._"

"Oh." Rachel felt sorry for her since she knew now the guy Brittany had dated was a real jerk. "I'm sorry."

"_I don't have any friends in New York. Lots of girls don't like me on account of my being a model. And co-workers, I mean, models are so mean to me. They don't listen to me seriously. But you seem nice. You listened to me very carefully the other day. So I thought you could help me finding a place to stay for a while._"

"O-okay. Where are you now?" Rachel asked, out of the corner of her eye seeing Tina tilt her head to one side with blinking eyes expectantly.

"_I'm checking out Hotel Giraffe._"

"We're not that far from there." Rachel remembered Hotel Giraffe was in the Nomad District.

"_We?_"

"Yeah, my friend and I were going to a café in the East Village. Wanna join us?" Rachel asked, expecting that she could get more information about Finn if she met Brittany in person.

"_You don't mind?_"

"Of course not." Rachel assured, before informing where Physical GraffiTea was.

"_Thank you, Rachel. You're really a nice person. See you there!_"

Having heard the swimsuit model happily hang up, Rachel faced Tina who sported a quizzical look on her face.

After Rachel finished explaining, Tina asked worryingly. "But where do you have in your mind she can stay?" She went down the stairs and pushed the door of the café. "She can't stay at your place."

"Obviously." Rachel agreed, walking into the café in tow. "I don't think she want to see her ex's face every day." She and Tina greeted at the staff with a waving hand before ordering their favorite tea and sitting at the table by the door.

"I think Santana knows someone who can let that girl stay?" Tina suggested, sitting across Rachel. "She has a huge circle of acquaintances."

"Hmm, then I'm going to call her to ask." Rachel pulled out her cell phone and scrolled the screen to dial the number of the Latina.

"_You've talked to him?_"

Those were the first words Rachel heard after three rings. "Hello to you too, Tana." She huffed.

"_You've not talked to the Gigantor yet, then what did you call me for?_"

"Why are you so in a bad mood?" Rachel frowned. "I didn't know my love life affected you that much." She heard the Latina sighing.

"_Sorry. Dani broke off with the relationship, I mean, I don't know there was the relationship between us, but…_"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Santana." Rachel said sympathetically.

"_Anyway, what can I do for you?_"

Rachel briefed Santana on the situation of the girl named Brittany before asking. "Do you know anyone who looks for a roommate or can let her stay for a while?"

"_Is she joining you two now? I should meet her._"

Rachel sighed at Santana's ignoring her question. "Santana, Finn's and Brody's deception are not her fault. If you join us, be nice to her." Rachel pleaded, fidgeted wondering if the Latina had accused the poor girl of failing the relationship between Finn and her.

"_You do not need to worry about that. I'll be there in thirty minutes._"

"You don't…" Before finishing, Rachel was hung up on. She blinked a few times and looked at Tina. "She hung up without knowing where we were."

"Surely she's going to track us down." Tina laughed. "You know who she is."

Rachel shook her head but smiled. "She's unbelievable." She sipped her tea.

* * *

"Are you Rachel?"

Rachel and Tina looked up at the direction where a female voice came from. "Brittany?"

The blond girl nodded excitedly with a big smile and sat on the empty space of the bench next to Rachel before offering a hand to shake. "Yes, it's me. Nice to finally meet you, Rachel."

Rachel took her hand. "You too, Brittany. And this is Tina, my best friend slash co-worker." She introduced the Asian to the Brody's ex.

Then the three girls talked about themselves and Brody for a while.

"Wait," Rachel cut off the conversation, "You've been to Mrs. Weston's apartment, the night before you and Brody left for Hawaii?"

Brittany nodded innocently.

"When exactly was that? Did you meet her then?" Rachel asked, feeling something uneasy in her stomach.

Brittany tilted her head to one side, thinking the hardest. "Um… I don't remember the date, but I remembered Brody said he had to go pick something up from his aunt's apartment, so I waited downstairs in the cab while he went up and got what he needed."

"So you didn't meet his aunt?" Tina put a word, leaning forward.

"No, I never got to meet her." Idly playing her sipper, Brittany answered. "Brody said his aunt was kind of a bitch and wouldn't like me on account of me being too young for him, which happens with a lot of my ex-boyfriends." She pouted.

Rachel felt her heart beat faster. "Brittany, can you try to remember what night exactly you and Brody were at my apartment building?" She looked at the blonde girl with desperate eyes. "Maybe you still have your boarding pass from when you flew down to Hawaii? Or your agent wrote your vacation schedule down somewhere?"

"Rachel, what's so important what night they were at your building?" Confused at Rachel's demeanor, Tina asked.

Ignoring Tina's statement, Rachel continued. "It doesn't matter however minor you might remember. Can you try? Please?"

"I really wish I could remember when it was exactly" Brittany said apologetically.

Rachel sighed. "It's okay." She forced herself to give Brittany a smile. "But please call me or text me anytime when you remember something, anything at all."

"Okay, I will." Brittany assured.

At the very moment, the three girls' heads perked up as they heard a pair of high heels' crack.

"Hey, Santana." Tina greeted. "You successfully tracked us down as always."

"Of course I did." Santana smirked before turning her head towards the blonde girl. "Wow." Mesmerizing, she stared at her for a while before clearing her throat. "Hi, I'm Santana. You must be Brittany."

"Hi, nice to meet you, Santana." Brittany sifted on the chair. "Wanna sit here?" She pointed the empty space on the bench next to her.

"Sure." Santana deposited herself on the space as Brittany had offered.

Rachel and Tina exchanged a meaningful glance before Rachel broached. "So… do you know someone who could let her stay for a while?" She asked to Santana.

"Oh, right, about that." Unlike her usual self, Santana put her elbow on the table, cupping her jaw with a hand. "If Brooklyn is okay with you," she turned her face to the blonde girl, "you can stay at my apartment as long as you like."

Brittany lightened up. "Really?"

"Mmm-hmm." Santana nodded. "Where's your moving baggage? I can send a truck to pick them up." She threw her blightest smile at the blonde.

"Awww, you're the nicest person that I've ever met, Santana." Smiling from ear to ear, Brittany clasped her hands across her chest before turning her head towards the two other girls. "Of course you guys are nice too."

Rachel and Tina, being feeling them as the third and fourth wheels since Santana showed up, just awkwardly smiled back at Brittany.

"You guys were going to hunt out bridesmaids' gift today, right?" Santana said, standing up from the bench before seeing her co-stars nodding. "Then let's get going, shall we, Brittany?" She offered her helping hand for the blonde girl to stand up.

"Yay!" Brittany took it and sprung to her feet out of the bench, clapping her hands, before facing Rachel and Tina. "Thank you for having me here. I like to go grab some coffee with you guys sometime. Bye!"

With that, Brittany and Santana walked out of the café, leaving Rachel and Tina hang their mouth open (mostly because of Santana's demeanor).

"What was _that_?" Tina gasped.

Rachel shrugged. "I think she likes Brittany."

"But Brittany is not…"

Rachel cut in before Tina could have finished. "We don't know that, Tina. What matters is Brittany makes her happy, and…" She stopped in mid-sentence and looked down at her laps, realizing something by her own words.

"What's wrong?" Tina frowned.

Rachel looked up before shaking her head. "Nothing." She stood up out of the bench. "Alright, let's be going now. We've got a lot to do today."

* * *

When Rachel finally got to her apartment building around at 8 pm, she found Blaine chatting with the doorman. "Blaine?" She called out to the guy with a bowtie. "What are you doing here?"

Blaine whirled around before greeting with a smile. "Hey, Rachel." He approached her as he pulled a plastic case out of his messenger bag. "I have a delivery for you." He handed it out to her.

Rachel took it from Blaine and examined it carefully. "What's this?" She asked, flapping the DVD case. "And from whom?"

"Just watch it. I'm sure you'll like it." Deciding to refuse giving her an answer, Blaine winked at her. "I gotta go. See you tomorrow at the theater, Rachel." With that, he walked away from the building.

Rachel tilted her head to one side as she walked over into the elevator.

Meanwhile, Brody pressed the elevator in the hallway on the fifth floor, his cell phone at his ear. "You haven't found any work for me lately!" he yelled at the other end of the line. "Dammit." Frustrated, he repeatedly pressed the button. "You know what? I don't need you. I'm an artist and as such am taking my services elsewhere. You can consider my contract with your agency terminated as of this moment." He hung up on his agent and kicked the door of the elevator hard. "Fuck!" He started pacing in the hallway.

After a few second, Brody heard a ding from the elevator. He turned around as he found Rachel emerged from there.

Rachel made a face as she saw Brody approaching her. "Hello, Brody."

"Why hello, Doll Face." He smirked.

Rachel wrinkled her nose in disgust as she was about to walk away from him.

"Hey." Brody called her to stop walking away. "I want to ask you something."

Rachel turned around and crossed her arms. "What do you want to ask?" She said bluntly in spite of herself.

"Relax, Princess." Brody draped his arm over her shoulder with too much familiarity. Rachel cringed by it, trying to escape herself from his hold but he tightened his grip on her shoulder. "I know you've visited my aunt since she's been in the hospital. So tell me what the visiting hours are there."

Rachel managed to shake off his arm from her shoulder. "Why do you want to know that now?" She challenged as she kept distance from him. "You've never visited her before."

"Oh, I may not seem nice or such," he stepped closer to her with a grin, "but I actually have a heart, believe it or not."

Rachel swallowed thickly, stepping back a little. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, I do." Brody bent his face a little down to hers. "I'm her only living relative after all, you know."

Rachel didn't realize how long she had held her breath. She slowly let her breath out before bluffing. "Your aunt is in the intensive care unit right now, which means she can't have visitors, you know, because people who are in the ICU are in very _very_ unstable condition and the slightest germ from the outside world might make them worse. Yes, I've visited her once or twice but just saw her lying on the bed from outside of the ICU."

Brody arched his eyebrow, folding his arms across his chest. "Really?" He didn't seem to buy it.

"Really." Rachel nodded firmly.

Brody stared at her intently for a while before shrugging. "Alright." With that, he walked back to the elevator. "Good night, Princess." He smirked at her one last time before disappearing into the elevator.

Rachel flopped down with a relieved sigh at the place as she assured that he was nowhere in her sight. She fished her cell phone out of her purse and typing furiously.

**Please, please, Brittany. I begging you. I don't care anything minor, anything trivial at all. Can you remember anything that might help what night it was you and Brody were at my apartment building? It could be a matter of life and death. – Rachel***

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**Please review :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 16 – October 2013**

Rachel entered her apartment and made a beeline for the bathroom in order to shake off her ominous shiver—which the uncanny grin on Brody's face had caused—with a hot shower. She was not sure when exactly he and Brittany came to her apartment building one night before they headed for Hawaii, but that had to be very close to when Mrs. Weston was attacked. And now he seemed for some reason very intrigued with insulin shock and the visiting hours at his aunt's hospital.

Despite having taken a shower for a longer time than usual, she couldn't dispel some uneasiness in her stomach. She grabbed a bottle of red wine and a glass from the kitchen cabinet for composing herself before plumping down on the sofa in the living room.

When she was killing the wine bottle halfway through, she remembered the disk which Blaine just had delivered for her. She pushed herself up out of the sofa and walked into the bedroom to take the disk from her purse before returning to her comfortable sofa. She again studied it carefully, although it was not like she could see anything different more than simply white.

Deciding to take a look, she slowly put it into the player and grabbed the remote as she sat back on the sofa before turning the TV on.

Rachel widened her eyes as she saw the footage recorded through the door of somewhere which she could tell it was the hospital on the TV screen. Finn was sitting on the chair beside the empty bed, holding a baby in his arms.

What was this? Was he married? And now he had a child? Why did Blaine do such a cruel thing to her?

Tears threatening to fall on her cheeks, she took the remote from the right side of her on the sofa, determined to turn off the TV. But the name 'Rachel' slipped from Finn's mouth stopped her motion and she turned up the volume instead.

"_Of course you are an angel too, especially to your parents. But I can tell she's definitely one of them. You should hear her singing voice." The camera zoomed in as Finn gently rubbed the baby's cheek with his knuckles. "And you know what else you and Rachel are in common? She's tiny like you. If she hears what I've just said now, she's going like" Finn cleared his throat, "_'I'm not that short, Finn!'_" He managed to bring his best impression of Rachel. "_'I happen to be vertically-challenged, but it can't be helped. Besides, it's kind of your fault if I look tiny!'_" He chuckled._

In spite of herself, Rachel giggled between her tears, cupping her hand on her mouth.

"_I remember what she looked like when we first met. She wore a yellow dress, which suited her very much. She… shined. You know, really shined. I was too nervous to talk properly." He paused, looking into the space. "And when she smiles… God, I love her smiling at me." He looked down at the little person who was squeezing Finn's finger. "And when she talks about music, her eyes sparkle. Literarily sparkle. You can't take your eyes off of them."_

_Finn sifted on the chair to make the newborn comfortable in his arms. "Do you know what it is I love about her the most? She sees the good in people. She even makes you feel okay with that you're not perfect. When you meet her, you'll understand what I'm trying to say here." A smile on his face suddenly clouded. He sighed, dropping down his shoulders. "But I screwed up. I was going to tell her everything. I swear I really was. I knew every day that I didn't tell her was just another day she was going to hate me if she finally figured it out. And she did. And she hates me now." He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and forced himself to smile down at the newborn. "I miss her so much." He blew out a shaky breath. "I hope she'll forgive me someday."_

The footage ended with an unfamiliar male voice 'Yo, Kurt.'

The tears gushed from Rachel's eyes. She still didn't know why he had to take care of Mrs. Weston's pets instead of Brody and what brought him using fake names in college. But one thing was for sure; He was being Finn, even in the name of Brody. And he didn't intentionally deceive her into falling for him. Maybe he felt the same way as she did?

Rachel took a deep breath and got herself up from the sofa to go get some tissues as her cell phone buzzed. She unlocked the phone to read a text as she blew her nose. It was from Brittany.

**Hi, Rachel! Now I remember the cab driver was listening to a baseball game on the radio at that night. He yelled 'walk-off two-run home run' and 'young! young!' along with the commentator. I think it was a game of New York Mets because there was a New York Mets bobblehead on the dashboard, you know, a weird plastic doll that guys and kids somehow love? Swinging its head? And I also remember I was thinking what 'walk-off' means, what was so young, and why they were playing baseball game until this late. Does that help? – Brittany**

Yes, it might help. But Rachel had no idea what 'walk-off' meant either. Baseball, Mets… She needed Finn to get a right answer this riddle. Her heart started pounding loudly. She quickly replied a thank you text to Brittany before scrolling down the address book on the phone until she could dial the right number.

And she pressed the number of the man who she needed for now (and ever).

The tone was ringing one, two, and three… She patiently waited for him to pick up his phone.

Ten, eleven, twelve… Dammit! Why didn't he pick up his phone at this very very very important moment?!

"Pick up, pick up, pick up, PICK UP!"

Rachel's voice gradually got to be loud.

Twenty-one, twenty-two… The ringtone was replaced by the voicemail.

Rachel hung up the phone in defeated as she rubbed her forehead with a hand. She started pacing in the living room, her phone gripped tightly in her hand, wondering how to get in touch with Finn right now. She didn't know either where he lived or Kurt's number. Then she stopped at the place, remembering Blaine was dating Kurt.

"_Hello?"_

"Blaine!" Relieved at that he answered his phone quickly, Rachel collapsed down on the sofa.

"_I bet you watched the video."_

"Yes, thank you, by the way, for delivering for me. But I don't have time to talk about the video right now. I need to know Kurt's number. I'm sure you know that because you're dating with him, right? Please, please give me his phone number. It's important." Rachel rattled on without pausing for breath.

"_Whoa, whoa, Rachel. Is there something wrong?"_

"Finn didn't answer his damn phone!" Rachel cried out. "I have to talk to Finn now, I _need_ to talk to him right now!" The more time passed, the more she got panicked.

"_Alright, alright. I don't know why you sound like having a panic attack, but Kurt's here. I'll get him."_

Rachel repeated inhaling and exhaling to compose herself while hearing Blaine talking to Kurt on the other end of the line.

"_Hello, Rachel? What can I do for you? Have you watched the video yet?"_

"Yeah, I have and thanks for that." Rachel took a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I need to talk to Finn right now, but he didn't answer the phone. Could you tell me where he lives?"

"_I'm glad that you decided to talk to my moron of a brother. Of course I'll give you his address. He dropped his phone into a bar toilet and washed it away unwillingly since he was too drunk last night, by the way."_

Rachel massaged her temple with her forefinger as she heard the love birds laughing on the other end of the line. She might have giggled with them at his clumsiness if she were in a different situation. But she was definitely not in that mood right now—she didn't even realize Kurt had just said Finn was his 'brother.' She wrote down the address on a piece of paper hurriedly before saying thanks to Kurt and hanging up.

She grabbed the key and her trench coat from the kitchen counter. And she broke into a run for Finn's apartment after emerging out of the building.

* * *

He was _so_ going to kill Kurt.

His current state—curling up on the couch with tears—was totally his step-brother's fault. He wanted to watch _The Hangover_ to shake off his depression (he lost not only Rachel but his cell phone!) but the disk was definitely not that movie. Really? _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_? Why the heck was this sad sad movie in the packaging of _The Hangover_?

Okay, he didn't look at the disk cover after having taken it out of the packaging and before setting it into the player, or he didn't even stop watching this too bitter movie either, though he noticed that was the wrong movie at the beginning. But it was not like he did know what the story of _Eternal Sunshine_ was like. Even though this movie had a happy ending (kind of), he never expected this movie would add insult to injury. He didn't know whether accidentally or not, but Kurt was definitely the one who had put the wrong disk in the packaging of the comedy movie. Because he didn't have any friends who could venture to watch those kinds of movie. Which meant his current state was totally absolutely Kurt's fault!

If Puck had found him curling up on the couch crying—thanks to his stupid step-brother and the stupid movie—, the Mohawk would never let him live this down. He might be called pansy or wussy or growing vagina between his legs by Puck. He would rather being walked in on in a compromising position than that.

Too wiped out to get himself up out of his current state, he, irrationally sulking, just continued his pity party on the couch in his tiny apartement, his gaze wandered between the blue screen on TV and an almost empty bottle of hard liquor on the coffee table.

A few minutes later, his doorbell rang.

Kurt. His step-brother was lecturing how idiotic drinking too much over his heartbroken last night was _again_. Finn thought. He didn't want that tonight. So he ignored it.

But Kurt didn't seem to give up on being his role as another mom. More ring sounds came.

Finn sighed and slowly rose to his feet from the couch before approaching the window to glance furtively around the outside of his brownstone.

He pulled back his head from the window quickly as he saw through the curtains Rachel standing there. She seemed to get upset. Because he didn't answer his door? Who was he kidding? Of course she was upset because he had lied to her for two whole months. Duh. And was he hoping she would talk to him? If she did, he thought he could explain everything and apologize and get her back? Then why his feet didn't move from the place?

Rachel irritably repeated rang his doorbell. "Finn! I need to talk to you right now! I know you're there! I can see your living room light is on!"

Ironically she said the same thing as Finn had said when he had held a bunch of white tulip which he didn't know they were delivered to her hands in one piece by the doorman of her apartment building.

Finn shook his head and made his mind to answer his door even though he was in a little bit drunken state.

Rachel, who looked at him with frowning eyebrows which he assumed she noticed he was drunk, pushed him aside and let herself into the brownstone then his apartment without saying hello as soon as he opened the front door. Finn just followed her into his own apartment running a hand through his hair grown in all directions.

Rachel turned around to face him before bringing whatever the subject she wanted to all at once. "Brittany said she and Brody were at my apartment building the night before they left for Hawaii, and he went up to his aunt's apartment to pick something up while she waited in a cab." Pacing around, she started rambling without breathing. "And Brody asked me about not only insulin coma but the visiting hours at the hospital. He's never visited his own aunt, Finn! Oh my God, what am I supposed to do? To deter him from killing his aunt?"

"Rach? Rachel!" Putting his hands on her shoulders, Finn stopped her from pacing. He turned her around to face him. "Rachel, breathe." He rubbed her arms up and down. "I don't know what you're talking about. Enlighten me from the beginning."

Rachel let out a deep breath before telling him as to how she concluded that the assaulter of the old woman might be her nephew. "And Brittany sent me this text an hour ago." She handed her cell phone out to Finn. "I don't know what 'walk-off' means, but I'm sure you do know that, right?"

Finn took her phone from her hand to read the text. "Yeah." He nodded before explaining the definition of 'walk-off.' "When the game is tied, or the visiting team has the lead at the top of the 9th inning or later, then the home team scores and takes the lead during the bottom of its inning, the game is immediately over and the home team wins. That's called 'walk-off.'" He saw her still sporting a quizzical look on her face as his gaze sifter from the screen of her cell phone to her. He chuckled. "Never mind." He shook his head with a lopsided smile before taking a look at the text again. "'Walk-off two-run home run,' Hmmm… I guess I know what night they were at your building."

He walked over to his desk where his laptop was waiting to be booted up. As soon as the computer was started up, Finn googled the official site of New York Mets to check their season schedule. "Yup, this was the game Brittany and the cab driver were listening to on the radio." He pointed at the small box in the calendar of last August. "Eric Young slammed a two-run home run in extras and gave his team the 'walk-off' win."

Rachel looked into the screen from behind Finn's shoulder. She gasped cupping her hand over her mouth as she saw the date which was written on the upper right corner of the small box of the calendar. "Oh my Gosh! Oh my Gosh!" She stumbled backward a little with surely realization that the night Brittany and Brody were at her building was exactly right before Rachel found Mrs. Weston facedown in her living room next morning! "Oh my Gosh! He's definitely going to kill his aunt this time!"

Finn immediately pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her body, his one hand around her waist, the other soothing her small back up and down. "Rach, calm down."

Rachel put her hands on his chest before looking up into his amber eyes. "But we don't have enough time to prevent…"

"Don't worry about that, Rach." Finn cut in, rubbing her cheek with his hand. "I'm calling Puck to ask him to take care of it, okay?"

"Puck?" Rachel asked, frowning.

"He's one of my best friends." Finn answered. "He's working as a police officer. He's working at the station in Bronx but he knows very well about the case of Mrs. Weston since we've shared the information of it." He reluctantly pulled himself away from her and grabbed his cell phone to call his best friend.

After telling Puck everything what he had gotten from Rachel, Finn faced her with a smile. "He said he's going to contact with 10th precinct right away." He took her hand and led her to the couch. "He'll call me back later to let us know how they handle this." He pulled her down in his laps. "Feel better?"

Rachel let out a relived sigh before nodding.

"Rachel, I'm so so sorry that I lied to you." He looked up at her, who was just looking back at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, waiting expectantly for him to continue. "Brody and I were roommates in college, and…" He stared to tell her the how and why he ended up pretending to be Brody to take care of Mrs. Weston's pets.

"I'm so sorry, Rachel. I really am." He bored into her eyes. "I know I should've told you the truth from the beginning. But I couldn't encourage myself to do that because I thought you would hate me if you figured it out."

"I wish you'd told me the truth before the things between us got, um, you know," Rachel cast down her eyes shyly, "serious." She cleared her throat. "But I do not hate you, Finn." She looked back at him, threading her fingers through his messy hair.

"I've missed you, Rachel." Finn whispered and tightened his hold around her tiny frame, burying his face in her neck. He deeply inhaled her strawberry sent.

"I've missed you too, Finn." Rachel whispered back.

Finn perked up his head from her neck. "Does that mean you forgive me?"

Rachel nodded. "Yes, I forgive you, Finn."

A lopsided smile appeared around his lips. "And does that mean I can kiss you now?"

Without waiting for her to answer, Finn closed his eyes and leaned his face towards hers. But his lips collided with something warm but flat, which was definitely not her delicious lips. His eye flew open with a surprise. It was Rachel's tiny palm.

"No, Finn." Rachel made a straight face. "First of all, there're other things you have to explain first. Secondly, your breath smells alcohol. You need to rinse your mouth." She pulled herself from him and stood up before stepping back from him, folding her arms across her chest. "Now go to the bathroom, Finn." She bossed.

"What? What did I do?" Finn whined, trying to stretch out his arm to pull her into him.

Rachel stepped back further. "I want to know what brought you deciding to use a fake name like Lando Calrissian." She put her hand on her hip.

Embarrassed, Finn chewed the inside of his cheeks, feeling his face turn red.

Rachel approached him and caressed his cheek with her hand. "No more lie, Finn."

Finn closed his eyes, putting his hand over her tiny one before opening them and repeating her words. "No more lie, Rach."

* * *

**Finally!**

**Please review :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews! This chapter is the last one where Marley appears. She's just one of the props, which I doubt the propriety of the word though, to define Finn's and Rachel's characters (I hope). So I use Santana and Kurt to draw the line on behalf of them. Don't hate Marley, she's harmless (and helpless).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Chapter 17 – October 2013**

"_Her physician's just confirmed her nephew asked about the visiting hours on the phone this morning. Also the doorman admitted he and the other building staff had been at the super's apartment for the last thirty or forty minutes to the end of the game. The cab driver hasn't been found yet, but they're gonna track him down anyway I suppose."_

After Rachel had been in the 10th precinct station for an interview, Puck, who had been there too, informed on the phone. Finn was sitting in the administration office to have to use the phone from there, thanks to his own carelessness.

"_I'm sure they ought to install surveillance system in her room to monitor 24/7 by now in case the suspect commits a crime."_

Finn let out a relieved sigh. "Has Kurt picked her up yet?" He asked before hearing his best friend chuckling. "What's so funny?" He complained with frowned eyebrows.

"_Dude, you're totally whipped. She's old enough to walk alone in the street in the daylight. Besides, she's kinda crazy, I'm sure she can save her own ass, which by the way is grade A."_

"Don't check her out! I mean, _ever_!" Finn huffed, beginning to repent not having taken a day off to tag alone with her, although he secretly agreed with the last part of what the police officer with a Mohawk had just said. "And I'm sure as hell you said something wrong you shouldn't have." He asserted.

"_Why the fuck do you think I said something wrong? She insisted on calling me Noah and gave me a lecture as to why I should be called the given name. My grandma must have come out of her grave and possessed that little body."_

Finn chuckled in spite of himself, easily picturing how Rachel and his best friend were bickering—Puck was always getting on girls' nerve when he got to like them—and assuming the Mohawk must have thrown some crude comments at her. He shook his head with a smile before clearing his throat. "Has he or hasn't yet?" He demanded, thinking that she and Kurt were supposed to be here in any minute if they already left the station.

Finn didn't want Rachel to go back to home alone until Brody was arrested or free of suspicion. That was why he had insisted on her staying at his place last night—well, they'd had a lot to talk about to begin with—and sent his step-brother not only her apartment to pack her clothes and overnight kit for a few days instead of her last night but also the NYPD's 10th precinct station to pick her up today, despite that fact that Rachel hesitated about being away from her apartment building mostly because she was being worried about Mrs. Weston's pets (_'I'm sure he's been neglecting them, Finn! Because I _know_ he's never walked Rusty. Maybe I should sneak into his aunt's apartment while he's not home and take care of them'_), _and_ Kurt didn't like to be used as an errand (_'Now tell me why do I have to do this for you? How do you think she decided to talk to you to begin with? You're lucky I like her too'_).

"_Take a chill pill, man. Yes, he has. So has an Asian girl? Tina, if I remembered correctly? Actually they already departed an hour ago."_

"An hour ago? And Tina did come?" Taken aback a little, his voice cracked. His school was not that far from the station, ten minutes' walk or so. Then why did it take so long for them to get here? What if she (they) bumped into Brody and got caught in the crossfire?

"_Dude, relax. I assume The Asian dragged her out to shopping despite your bitchy brother resisted, 'cause that girl named Tina said your girl needed some _lingerie_. Maybe you'll get lucky tonight."_

Finn pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger as he heard Puck punctuate the word of female undergarment along with chuckles. "I wish I could." He murmured before letting out a sigh.

Little did the Mohawk know that he wouldn't ever get some lucky until he got the STD checked out and made sure he was in the clear. In fact, he had already got an appointment on Saturday (which meant he wouldn't have sex with Rachel at least for the next week, if he might add). It was not like either he was complaining, or she forced him to get the STD tested—well, actually her words during the course of their frank talk had weighed on his mind.

He told her everything about himself last night, about Jenny and Lando Calrissian included—Rachel gave him a big (for such a small person) hug, when he told about his worst and lowest moments in his life in high school.

In college, he hadn't used a fake name at the beginning to attempt to hook up with girls. Hell, he mostly had drunken too much to find his (their) way to some place to do it, to be honest, which meant that you could count the number of girls he had a one-night-stand with on the fingertips of one hand without using up the digits. Why he got to fictionalize his identity was because some of them looked at him with crazy eyes and came on too strong claiming that they should be more than a one-night-stand once they got to know his step-father was Burt Hummel.

Rachel listened to him intently the whole time, seeming to try to understand his past as far as he was concerned.

"_Although I'm not totally agreed with randomly fornicating, it's understandable for you to have chosen not to be in a committed relationship. Besides, you didn't mean to be disrespectful to women because it was by mutual agreement, did you? And, um, you did get STD tested, right?"_

"_Um, no, I didn't. I didn't even think about it because I always used protection."_

"_Oh. Okay."_

After a brief awkward silence, Finn resumed telling about himself, pigeonholing the subject for the time being, totally forgotten his step-brother once had lectured that he should get tested if he chose that kind of life style (_'It should be required for those who have unprotected, oral, anal or casual sex with multiple partners to do that on a regular basis!'_) because he terminated that life style by his senior year in college—he got to devote himself to keeping busy his school work (he really wanted to be a good teacher), even though his friends thought he kept doing it (he never corrected it)—and, this was just between Rachel and him, he hadn't done any sexual activities (well, other than beating off himself _of course_) over the past year and a half or so, far be it from him to admit that to his best friend though since the Mohawk would definitely make fun of him for the rest of his life.

But when Rachel confessed with tears that she had felt refused at that night they had almost had sex because of her past (he finally knew why she had suddenly gotten tensed when he had mentioned that he used to be a quarterback in high school), he couldn't help feeling guilty and the pang of ache in his chest as to that he was the one who caused her to feel that way even though his intention of which he had stopped himself from going all the way was complete opposite. He just held her tight in his arms, repeatedly whispering 'I'm sorry' in her hair between kisses to her head because he didn't know anything else to say.

That was the moment he just blurted out _'I'm going to get STD checked out'_ to show her how serious he was about her, instead of declaring his love for her.

"_What did you say? Are you still there?"_

"Um… nothing." Finn snapped out of his thought as he heard Puck raise his voice on the other end of the line.

"_Well, anyway, I'm looking forward to your turning in the report about how she is in the sack tomorrow."_

"I'm not gonna entertain you just because you can't get laid in the month and a half ahead." Finn snorted. "I have to go. Thanks, by the way." He hung up on Puck who was retorting as he glanced at the clock on the wall which indicated that the last class of the day would begin in two minutes. He cursed at himself under his breath. He could've called or texted her to know where she was right now if he hadn't dropped his cell phone into the bar toilet.

* * *

When finally Kurt arrived at the school where Finn was teaching, after having gone to shopping (in a forcible way thanks to Rachel's best friend slash co-star) and dropped them off at the theater, it was 3:34 pm which meant it was a little past school closing time. He massaged his temple deliberately to release his stress of the day (and last night) that his giant ass of a brother caused as he made his way over to the auditorium which he assumed Finn might be at since it was Wednesday, deciding to get his step-brother to buy a pair of vintage leather gloves of Alexander McQueen which he had fallen with the day before.

When Kurt walked into the auditorium, he spotted his brother and a young slender brunette between the audience seats looking to the stage with a chat. He stepped down the gentle slope to approach them, but stopped the place five or six feet away from them. He arched his eyebrow as he heard their conversation. The girl clearly was into the 6'3" but the person himself didn't have any idea what she was trying to do. He remembered Blaine told him about the young brunette the other day.

"_Matt and Naomi asked me to go for a drink tonight. So I was thinking you could come with us? It'll be a blast! You seem feeling down a little these days, so…"_

"_Um, I don't know. I might have any plans tonight."_

"_Oh, okay. But feel free to call me up if you have a change of plans."_

"_Sure."_

Kurt cleared his throat to let them know his presence.

Finn and the brunette turned around their head and looked at the direction where the sound came from.

Finn lightened up as he saw his step-brother standing there. "Oh, hey, Kurt." But soon a frown around his eyebrows invaded on his face as he noticed someone important was not with his overly dressed man of a brother. "Where's Rachel?" He asked.

"She," Kurt opened his mouth, out of the corner of his eyes seeing the young woman somehow got tensed and looked down at the floor when the taller man had mentioned the name of Rachel, "wanted to take a nap before performance. So I dropped her off at the theater before coming here. She said she was sorry not to come with me." He explained.

"Is she okay?" Concern appeared all over on Finn's face.

"You know, she had long two days and felt drained. Tina furthered her exhaustion. She forced us into shopping after the interview." Kurt shook his head rolling his eyes. "But," he cleared his throat, "I'm sure she'll be fine when you go there." He assured. "She wants you to come over to the theater after school." After he finished what he had to say to his brother, he turned his head towards the brunette. "I'm Kurt, Finn's brother, by the way." He offered a hand to shake.

"Marley." She took his hand with a sheepish smile. "Nice to meet you, Kurt."

"Nice to be acquainted with you." Kurt faced Finn. "I'm going to go with you to the theater. So I'll wait here." He took one of the seats, determined to observe the students' rock band and the young brunette.

* * *

"Why didn't you make clear that you're not interested in her?" Kurt broached, deliberately crossing his legs to avoid his trousers from getting ugly wrinkles, as soon as they got into a cab.

"Huh?" Finn turned his head to his step-brother with a confused look. "Her? Who?"

"Marley." Kurt answered. "She's clearly attracted to you."

Finn made a funny face as if his brother had just said that pink was a color only human beings could see (actually Kurt had once rattled about colors, saying… what did he call? Oh, right, magenta, was a virtual color that was generated in a human brain). "What are you talking about? She's not interested in me."

Kurt shook his head. "You really can't see anyone else other than the girl you are interested in, can you? Though you've had only two relationships in your entire life, if you construe the first one as a relationship." He held his hand up in the air as Finn opened his mouth before continuing. "You should've told her you have a girlfriend when she asked you out, Finn."

"She didn't ask me out, Kurt." Finn huffed, crossing his arms. "I would look like a dork if I said 'I have a girlfriend' when she didn't ask me out." He mumbled.

"Yes, she did." Kurt narrowed his eyes. "Judging by what I've just seen in the auditorium and Blaine told me about the day you'd bumped into him and Rachel in the hallway, she's definitely been trying to get your attention."

"She's just being nice." Finn denied stubbornly.

Kurt rolled his eyes at his brother's obtuseness. "Now I could see why you've slept with girls only who came strong on you." He murmured.

Finn was saved from his step-brother's persistence by the cab driver, who'd just pulled over and turned around his head announcing their fare. They got out of the cab and walked over towards the backstage door.

"Do you think the security guard would let me into the theater?" Finn asked nervously. "The last time I showed up, Jackass put him wrong ideas into his head and I was kinda banned from here."

"I think Rachel put your name on the visitors' list. Besides, I'm on the list too. Don't worry about it." Kurt opened the backstage door before giving the guard their names. "See?" He pointed at their names on the list before showing his ID to the guard and yanked his brother's arm for him to do the same. Then he dragged his roving eyes brother into the corridor that led to the green rooms. "Come on, Finn."

"Here's Rachel's room." Kurt stopped in front of the door with a big gold star sticker, which made Finn smiled. "She said she wants you to wake her up if she still sleeps."

Finn nodded. "Thanks, Kurt."

After Kurt headed for Blaine's green room, Finn knocked on the door softly, but no answer. He slowly wrenched open the door as he found her lying on the couch in a peaceful sleep (but slightly snoring which caused him to chuckle). He knelt down beside the couch before rubbing her cheek with his thumb. "Rachel?"

"Hmm." Rachel sifted on the couch and half opened her eyes. She rubbed her eyes before a smile appeared on her face as she saw the amber eyes looking back at hers. "Hi."

"Hi, baby." Finn pushed a pile of her bang aside and gave a chaste kiss on her lips. "Slept well?"

Rachel nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't stop by your school." She lifted herself with her elbows on the couch. "You're lack of sleep too."

"I'm fine." He assured, a lopsided smile appeared on his face.

Rachel glanced at the clock on the wall, which indicated 5:51 pm. "Come cuddle." She gently pulled his arm. "We could take a nap another hour."

"Still need to sleep?" Finn chuckled before letting himself down on the couch and pulled her into his chest.

"Or talk?" Rachel suggested, slightly turning her head to him. "How was your day?"

"Not having a cell phone makes our lives very inconvenient." Finn complained.

Rachel giggled. "You deserved it." She shot her grin at her giant teddy bear.

"I wouldn't have dropped my phone if you answered earlier." Finn grumbled, pinching her cheek playfully.

"Hey!" Rachel slapped his chest with the back of her hand.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Finn gently rubbed her cheek. "I know I deserved it." He dropped his lips on her head then her cheek. "I'm sorry." He cupped her face with his large hand for her to look at him. "And I love you."

Rachel stared at him for a moment before smiling widely. "I love you too, Finn." She lifted her head to put her lips on his. "And apology accepted." Then she turned her head away from him before intertwining her fingers with his. "Now tell me how your day was."

* * *

Having assured that the nurse station was empty, with hasty but quiet steps he made his way over to the room where his aunt was lying on the bed in a coma.

When he went up to her apartment on the day before he left for Hawaii, he didn't mean to kill her. But the more he thought about that night which she gave the lecture like 'If you'd learn to handle your money in a more responsible manner, you wouldn't be running out of it all the time. You need to learn to live within your means' as if he were still a little kid, the more he got to seethe with anger. She'd been dropping big cash flying to all over the world only to watch Roger Federer playing instead of on TV while she left her pets with an expensive hotel. All he wanted was five grand. Just five grand.

She didn't give him the money. And she didn't let go of him either. So he had to push her. She fell backward and her head slammed into the corner of the coffee table. He got panicked at first as the dog was barking. Then he figured if she wasn't dead, somebody would find her eventually, and if she was, he would inherit a large fortune from her! So determined to make it look like the transvestite killer's handiwork, he went into her bedroom and threw a bunch of her clothes around. Then he got the hell out of there and kept lay low.

But she wasn't dead. On top of that, Brittany spent _his_ money like water (she promised to give the money back to him though), and his agent didn't get her ass off to find him any real work.

For the very reason, here he was. With the cat's insulin shot. Thanks to the controlling neighbor who was obsessed with the medical TV drama. His aunt was going to croak anyway. If he gave her another little push, who would even notice?

He shut the door quietly behind him and approached the bed before pulling the syringe out of his pocket.

When he was about to inject into his aunt's arm, the door flung open loudly.

"Freeze!"

"Put your hands up!"

"You're under arrest!"

Dropping the syringe, he held his hands up in the air as he heard the footsteps of the policemen approaching. He slowly turned his head around as he out of the corner of his eye saw two police officers were in the room.

Then he ran straight through the men in uniform in the room, attempting to flee from the room.

To no avail, the other policeman, who was waiting in the hallway, tackled and held down him. The officer got his arm put behind his back to handcuff, reciting Miranda warning as the other policemen emerged out of the room.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court…"

All Brody could do was dropping his head on his chest.

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**A/N: I'm feeling kind of sad because the story will end in the next two chapters (the last one is the epilogue).**

**Please review :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and sending reviews!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

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**Chapter 18 – November 2013**

Finn Hudson had been in unadulterated bliss.

Excluding that Mrs. Weston still was in a coma, everything was cleared between (and ahead of, he hoped) Rachel and him.

No past secrets. Check. The assaulter of a nephew arrested. Check. STD testing. Check. Applied for Rusty's new ownership (under the name of Rachel) (having suggested by Mrs. Weston's lawyer because a dog license was not transferable under New York City Law. Of course Mrs. Weston would reapply for an ownership when she woke up). Check.

And finally, _finally_ he had sex with Rachel.

Sure, he'd had sex before. But _this_? This was completely different on so many levels. He'd never gotten turned on this much seeing and hearing a girl crossing the finish line. Okay, he hadn't given Rachel vaginal orgasm yet since it took time for her to, you know, adjust (besides, truth be told, when their first few tries, he didn't—cough—last longer than he'd ever expected because he got off on too much, thanks to his hot girlfriend). But other than that, they were perfectly synchronized—the same extent of devotion to each other in bed, or on the sofa, or in the shower, or on the kitchen counter, or wherever they had sex.

She was amazing.

They were amazing (it was not like he was being cocky or something, it was the truth).

And now, on one Tuesday, they both had a day off work and were sitting at table for lunch in late afternoon, which was a rare occasion because their work schedules were completely different—she performed matinee on Saturdays and Sundays—, talking about Tina's and Mike's wedding on next Tuesday. With a goofy grin, watching at his amazing girlfriend chatting animatedly, Finn was too preoccupied with his pleasurable reverie to be aware of something abrasive sound of a name she was telling.

Almost.

"That's awes– You _what_?"

Rachel's plus one shot up his head, gripping his folk tightly, as she confessed at this juncture that she was going to sing a duet with her ex at the reception. A duet. Of a love song.

She grabbed his other hand on the table for him to calm down. "All the cast spared time to discuss which song who would sing at the reception. It was before we met." She cast down her eyes before she added peering at him through her eyelashes. "And we've practiced the song over these several months."

"Seriously?" Finn pulled his hand from hers and folded his arms across his chest. "After you broke up with him? After he made a horse's ass out of me at the opening night party?" He said in an accusing tone.

Rachel straightened up on the chair and tucked a pile of her hair behind her ear. "I told him to act professionally when we broke up. And it's not like I've rehearsed the song alone with him." She sifted on the chair, deciding not to reveal the fact that her ex had attempted (and failed) to be alone with her when practicing. "Besides, he didn't know what the situation you were forced to be in and jumped into the conclusion when you employed force on him—I have not the slightest desire to think that such a ferocity could solve a problem, by the way." She looked down at her own hands on the table before mumbling. "And it would make little sense to discuss them in the same light."

"Are you defending _the douche_?" Frustrated, Finn raised his voice, pounding his fists on the table, which caused them to get attention from a several couples sitting close to them.

"Finn! Would you please calm down?" Rachel hissed, peeking around the restaurant, before she leaned forward. "I'm certainly _not_ defending him!"

"I don't think he's acting professionally." Finn murmured petulantly before leaning forward and whisper-shouting in annoyance. "How many times do you think he tried to come between us? Millions, Rach, million times!" He huffed, sitting back on the chair, and averted his gaze away from her, his arms crossing.

Rachel sighed. She picked up her napkin on her laps to put on the table before circling around the table and sitting on the vacant chair beside him. "Finn, look at me." She rubbed his arm up and down gently with one hand, the other hand on his lap, trying to get his attention. "Can't you think, like, it's a continuation of the show? Just acting? You've never minded he's my opposite on the show, you know, we do explicit sex scene on stage every day."

"Puppets do, actually. Not you two." Finn sneered, still avoiding eye contact with his girlfriend.

Crestfallen, tearing her hands away from him, Rachel bit her bottom lip, wondering how he would react if she got a part which had to do kissing or sex scenes on stage or screen in the future. "Well, yeah. But as much as I would like to permute duet partner or song choice, it would be a nuisance to the band of our show if I did, you know, they're involved too." She said firmly, and returned to her original chair.

The rest of the lunch, an uncomfortable silence floated around them.

Finn knew that he was irrational and acting childish. But he couldn't help. If her ex were a decent guy, he wouldn't react like that. But Jesse St. Jackass was not. Not the slightest. The dude had constantly interrupted their precious time, despising him claiming how he didn't deserve Rachel, whenever he'd gotten opportunities, even after they were officially together. And his girlfriend was defending the douche nonetheless!

Having put the discussion on the back burner for a while with tacit understanding, they strolled around the River Side Park chatting idly (mostly because Finn was absentminded).

Rachel sighed. "I love you, Finn, you know that, right?" She looked up at him, squeezing his hand to assure him where her heart belonged to.

"I know, Rach. I know."

* * *

"Here, try it on." Carole handed out the tuxedo of her last husband to her son. "You two are the same height, but I think you're going to have to have it altered around the waist."

"Thanks." Finn took the tux from his mother's hand and left the master bedroom of Hummel-Hudson household.

A few minutes later, Carole knocked on the guest room's door, a sewing box in one hand. "Can I come in?" She wrenched the door open as she heard Finn murmur 'yes' from inside. "What's wrong, Finny?" She frowned as she saw him sighing in front of mirror.

"It's just–," Finn stopped in mid-sentence before shaking his head, "never mind."

"Did you fight with Rachel?" Carole asked cautiously with a concerned look on her face as she put the box on the bed before taking a several pins out of it and approaching her son.

"No, yes, kind of." He mumbled.

Carole circled around him, examining the waist size. "Hmmm, a little bit loose around here just like I thought." She adjusted it with a pin. "Over what?"

"Huh?" Finn looked down at his mother.

"You have to get the width of legs altered, too." Carole stepped back a little. "Fighting. With Rachel. What exactly did you fight with her over?" She sat on the bad to wait for him to speak up.

Finn took a deep breath before filling her in on the conversation they had had in the restaurant the day before.

"I'm not going to judge who he's like here because I've never met him in person, but," Carole started, "I understand why you're upset." She patted the vacant spot beside her on the bed to invite him to sit before opening her mouth again. Her only child complied. "But I also understand what she was trying to say. I think you have to deal with that."

"I know, but–"

"Don't you trust her?" Carole interrupted, soothing his arm up and down with a gentle hand. "She's an actress. What if she has to do a kissing scene on stage?"

Finn groaned. "I don't want to think about that right now." He ran a hand through his hair. "I do trust her, he's the one I don't trust."

"And do you trust in yourself?" Carole saw Finn face to her with a confused look on his face. "That your ability to make right choices." She added.

"If you mean that I do or do not love her, I _do_ love her, of course." Finn declared firmly. "She's the right person for me."

"Then what's the problem?" Carole tilted her head and peered into her son's eyes. "It doesn't matter whether you trust Mr. St. James or not. All that matters is that you trust each other, don't you think?"

Finn stared at the space for a while to think over his mom's remark in his head until he got feeling it to the bones. Then he turned his head to her. "You're right. All that matters is that we trust each other."

"And one more thing." Carole put her hand on his lap. "You need to forgive Jenny."

Finn widened his eyes and stared at her without say anything.

"What she did to you is very very awful. I was mad at her too. But you won't really be able to let it go unless you forgive her." Carole took his large hand and wrapped it with her both hands. "And remember this, Finny, you weren't the one who caused the betrayal."

Finn just nodded. "Thanks, Mom." Finally a lopsided smile was shown on his face.

Carole gave a kiss on his cheek before standing up off the bed. "Alright, put the pants on inside out. I'll go get Kurt to taper the trouser legs."

* * *

Even though she had cleaned her whole apartment and baked tons of banana bread last night, since Finn called it a night earlier than she had expected and declined to stay at her apartment (which also a rare occasion since they reconciled), making an excuse that he forgot to grade papers for the next day, a malaise feeling didn't go away from her head.

Determined to clear her head before leaving for home, she started moving the couch to the other side of the corner in her green room as she heard a soft knock on the door. "Come in." She answered, not bothering to pause in her labor.

"Hey, Rachel. Wanna practice the duet?"

She shot up her head as she heard a voice of the very reason of Finn's upset state. "Jesse." She straightened up at the place. "We've been practicing enough. And leave the door open." She demanded annoyingly.

Jesse chuckled. "Why?" He shut the door behind him, ignoring her request. "You know that I won't bite you."

"Still." Rachel walked over toward the door to open. "I'm not comfortable being alone with you in a locked room." She said in a grouchy tone before resuming what she had been doing.

"You didn't seem to mind last week." Jesse smirked before approaching the couch to give a hand for her. "Is that about your _precious_ boyfriend?"

"I don't appreciate your sarcastic tone, Jesse." Rachel admonished, brushing dust off her skirt. "And how many times do I have to tell you we're over?"

"We have great chemistry." Jesse plumped himself down on the couch, crossing his legs, his arms behind his head. "_You_ used to say that, Rachel."

"On stage, yes." Rachel admitted before letting out a deep breath. "Look, Jesse." She deposited herself beside him on the couch. "I love Finn. I really do. He _is_ my boyfriend. I don't think it's tough for you to swallow, because you and I both know we wouldn't have worked even if you didn't sleep with Claudia Nylund, you know, we were only in love with each other's talent, not with _you_ or _me_." She put her hand on his lap. "As I said before, I love you as a–"

A thud sound interrupted her sentence.

Rachel snapped up her head and gasped as she saw Finn standing at the doorway holding Rusty in his arms, his gaze traveling from her face to her hand. Abruptly she tore her hand away from her ex's lap and glanced at the culprit of the thud sound. The bouquet of roses was tragically lying on the floor, autumnal berries within the bouquet scattering around.

Finn moved back a few steps, sporting a hurt expression on his face before turning around and leaving without saying one word.

"Finn!" Rachel cried out springing to her feet. She hurriedly gathered the flowers as much as she could off of the floor and grabbed her bag from the dressing table, not bothering to change her clothes before turning head and looked down irritably at her ex who was still sitting on the couch. "Could you leave? I want to lock the door." She waited patiently for her ex to get up off the couch.

Jesse sighed and complied before walking over to the door. "Alright," He held his hands up in the air, showing the white flag, "you explained enough." He stepped out of the room.

"And you owe him an apology, you know, for flouting at him repeatedly." Rachel reentered the room to pick up the green room key from the coffee table.

Jesse snorted. "He does too." He leaned against the wall in the corridor, watching her step out of the room and lock the door.

"Yes, he does." Rachel agreed, beginning to walk down the corridor with him. "I'm not going to ask you guys to get along with each other, but please try to be civil, or at least pretend to tolerate each other's presence when you are in the same room." She pleaded.

"Okay, okay, I'll try." Jesse stopped in front of his green room's door.

"That's all I ask." Rachel gave him a small smile.

Jesse shrugged before encouraging. "Go after him."

"Thank you, Jesse." Rachel gave him a quick hug. "See you tomorrow." With that, she returned the key to the security guard by the back door and rushed into the street to catch up with her love of her life.

* * *

Having seen him bring Rusty with him to the theater, he could leave for her apartment or the dog park, but Rachel decided to hail a cab to head for his apartment instead since he didn't answer the phone.

Sitting the stoop of his brownstone while waiting, she hugged herself with her arms, regretting leaving the green room in the stage clothes since a cold wind in early winter continued hitting her tiny body mercilessly. It had been about an hour since she got here, still there was no sign Finn would show up or answer the phone.

After another hour, Rachel dejectedly stood up since her bladder nearly exceeded its natural limits as she saw the giant frame getting closer out of the dark.

Finn also noticed her standing on the stoop. He tugged the leash and picked Rusty up off of the street as he approached his brownstone. "What are you doing here?" He said expressionlessly.

"I was waiting for you." Rachel gripped the damaged bouquet tighter in her hands, biting her lower lip.

"Why?" Finn asked bluntly.

Rachel frowned. "You know why."

"You tell me." He climbed up the stoop, past by her, pulling the keys out of his back pocket, the dog still in his one arm.

"Please Finn, don't do this." Looking up at him, Rachel put her hand from behind of him, to stop him from opening the door.

Feeling a cold tiny hand on his, Finn sighed and looked back at her. "How long have you been here?" He asked with a muffled voice.

"Um, two hours?" Rachel shrugged. "Can I come in? Because, first of all, I need to release a compression from my small bladder. Please?" She asked with her best puppy dog eyes, tilting her head to one side.

A hint of smile formed on his lips, opening the front door. He stepped aside for her to go in.

As soon as Finn unlocked the door of his apartment, Rachel made a beeline for the bathroom at a trot, a grimace on her face. He chuckled a little despite himself seeing her emergency as he unleashed the dog before depositing him on the floor. While waiting for her to return from the bathroom, he decided to put a kettle over a fire and pulled two mugs out of the cabinet.

Rachel emerged out of the bathroom and put her bag and the bouquet on the kitchen counter as the kettle whistled. Finn stood up from the couch and made tea for both of them. He put the mugs on the coffee table as he sat back on the couch, preparing for her to say something he didn't want to hear. "So?"

"So." Still standing by the kitchen counter, Rachel echoed, wringing her hands beside her body.

"Do you," Finn cleared his throat, "uh, do you still have feeling for him?" He asked, looking down at his mug. Rusty jumped to the couch and curled up beside him as if he would be willingly supporting his owner's boyfriend.

"No, I don't." Rachel answered firmly.

"But I heard–,"

"I know you heard I said I loved him, but you would've heard what I was trying to say there if you walked in earlier or stayed longer." Rachel interrupted. "I meant I loved our friendship, or more precisely, work relationship. Because, how much arrogant and annoying he can be, I know he's gone through tough time to make it on Broadway."

Finn flinched a little at her words on the couch. Her saying she loved her ex, even though it was for their friendship or work relationship, was the last thing he wanted to hear. But at the same time, the way she saw in the jerk was one of the things he loved about her.

"I would work with him again as long as we both work on Broadway. We'd better leave no seeds of future trouble." Rachel continued before circling around the table to sit down on the other side of him. "I thought I was in love with him when I was dating him, but I realized I wasn't to begin with when I met you." She took his mug from his hand and put it on the table before cradling his face in her hands to get him to look at her. "You have to believe that I am in love with you, Finn Hudson."

Finn covered her hands with his then entwined their fingers. "You mean it?" He looked into her big brown eyes.

Rachel looked back straight at his eyes with full of love and nodded. "One hundred million percent."

Finn leaned down his face to hers and captured her mouth with his before reluctantly pulling away from her to catch his breath, but remaining his foreheads resting against hers. "Just so you know, I'm in love with you one hundred million percent too, Rachel Berry."

Rachel let out a relieved sigh. "I'm sorry I confused you." She whispered against his lips. "And thank you for the flowers. They are beautiful."

Finn smiled against her lips. "They were more beautiful when I got them."

"Still beautiful enough to be admired." Rachel pulled herself from him. "I'm putting them in a vase." With a bright smile, she stood up from the couch before walking over to the kitchen. "Do you have a vase?" Turning around her head to Finn, she asked.

Finn followed her and opened the cabinet from behind to take the vase out of it. "Here you are."

While she arranged the flowers in the vase, Finn wrapped his arms around her from behind. "I'm sorry I jumped the gun and kept you waiting outside. Your body is chilled to the bone." He dropped a kiss on her cheek. "Wanna take a bath?"

Rachel whirled around in his arms and looked up at him sadly. "It's late. As much as I'd like to, but I have to take Rusty home with me since any animals are not allowed in your building."

"One night, no harm." Without waiting her answer, Finn picked her up off the floor and secured her legs around his torso, before carrying her into the bathroom.

* * *

Later that night (or early dawn), after bathing and having the best sex ever—moreover he finally made her come! Twice!—, spooned her naked body from behind lying on the bed, tangling her legs with his, Finn let out a content sigh. "Rachel? Baby?"

"Hmmm?" A slumber sound came from her nose.

"Will you forgive him?" Finn asked. "Or you've already forgiven him?"

Rachel turned her head toward him. "Who? Jesse?"

"No, Jonas."

Rachel sifted her body to face him completely. "He never apologized. So, I've never thought about it."

"Then if he showed up for an apology, what would you do?" Threading his fingers through her hair, he asked again.

"Hmm." Rachel pressed her forefinger on her lips. "I think I would forgive him."

"You would?"

She nodded, caressing his cheek with a hand. "I wouldn't if I didn't meet you." Smiling, she looked into his eyes adoringly. "He's the reason I waited for the right person who I gave my virginity. Maybe I would even thank him." She pecked his lips.

"Then I should thank Jenny and Brody." Finn cradled her head to pull her face closer and gave her a much deeper kiss. He heard a moan escape from her mouth. "You wanna go again?" He whispered against her lips, his forming into curl.

About to cup her hips with his hand, Rusty jumped on him to join them. Finn groaned.

"You have only three hours to wake up." Rachel giggled as she saw him pout. She ran her hand through his hair. "We've got time." She kissed him one last time before turning herself away from him and snuggling her back into him. "Good night, Finn."

"Night, Rach." Finn kissed her head.

That was right.

They'd got a plenty of time.

A long future ahead of them.

* * *

**A/N: I was going to include Tina's and Mike's wedding in this chapter at first, but I excluded it for some reasons. Here is my imaginary song list the cast would sing at the reception if you're interested;**

'**Ten Minutes Ago' from Cinderella – Will and Emma**  
'**Some Enchanting Evening' from South Pacific – Artie**  
'**I Can Choose Right' from Baby – Blaine**  
'**Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered' from Pal Joey – Santana**  
'**Sun and Moon' from Miss Saigon – Rachel and Jesse**  
'**Losing My Mind' from Follies – Sue (!)**

**Please review :)**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: This is the epilogue of my story. Finchel story ended in the last chapter to some extent but I wanted to add what would happen to Mrs. Weston, who's been Rachel's first friends since she moved to NY in my story. So I wrote Finchel's afterward including Mrs. Weston's situation here. I deeply gratefully appreciate you guys have kept reading patiently and sending great reviews despite my poor English skill (I assume sometimes I've misled and confused you all). I hope you'll enjoy the last one. ;)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and its characters.**

* * *

**Epilogue – May 2014**

He knew how he felt good for her. From her throat to her chest or her cheeks flushing, her eyes closed, and the most beautiful, erotic and sexiest sounds along with his name spilling from her slightly swollen lips. And she somehow sweated underneath her buttocks the most, which always thrilled him. He loved watching, feeling and hearing every respond she showed to him.

He picked up his speed and kept whispering in her ear her name or pet name, how good she felt, how wet she was, how good she made him feel, growling, groaning, nibbling her ear or her neck, one arm holding her head, the other hovering over her body—her boobs, flat stomach or her clit. She was close. He was close too. He hooked her right leg on his right arm, thrusting hard and fast. Her wall clenched around himself, her lubricating fluid drenching down his shaft.

She cried out 'Oh, fuck,' followed by his name. Rachel Barbra Berry cursing—oh, God, which never failed to turn him on. Her body arched to the air a little, her fingertips and around her stomach twitching, as he thrust into her a few more times until completing spilling out into the bag. He pressed his lips from her ear to her lips to her forehead before catching his breath, his arms wrapping around her little body, still himself inside her.

"You are amazing." Finn cupped her right cheek to face him and repeatedly kissed her lips which were still leaking of exhalation from.

"You are too." Rachel shifted on her side a little, tangling her left leg with his right thigh, caressing his cheek with a hand, resting her forehead against his, letting out a sigh in euphoria.

After cleaning her and himself up, they snuggled into each other for a while on her bed. Finn stared at the wall before shifting his gaze to a pile of his clothes on the corner of her bedroom.

He spent most of the time in her apartment, mostly because of Mrs. Weston's pets (Rusty and Ms. Bonaparte—Napoléon rested in peace in January unfortunately). His work files were in her living room, more clothes were occupied in a small space of her closet or drawer. He had technically lived in her apartment since they reconciled.

Rachel walked the dog in the morning while he headed off his school. When he came (Rachel's) home, they had early supper together. After supper, Rachel went to work as he did whatever he liked to (sometimes he went to a sport bar with his friends, sometimes just graded papers in her apartment). Then he walked Rusty to the theater (or he just went alone to there) to pick her up since he didn't want her to come home alone at that late), and they left for the dog park or just went (her) home.

This was their pattern of usual weekdays, except for Tuesdays (closing day).

"Why don't we make apartment hunt?" Finn blurted out.

Rachel blinked a few times, her big brown eyes got bigger.

"Technically we're living together, right?" He started to explain his idea. "My studio is too small and pets aren't allowed, but yours isn't enough for two people either." He nodded at the direction where his clothes were stacked. "You're always complaining when I leave my clothes like that despite you don't give me enough space in your closet."

"I'm not _always_ complaining!" Rachel dabbed his chest.

"Yes, you are." Finn chuckled, grabbing her hand to stop from slapping and kissed her knuckles. "How do you say?" He arched his eyebrow expectantly.

Rachel bit her bottom lip with her teeth. She liked his idea. She really did. Or she didn't say she never came up an idea like that. But she had one thing which had stuck in the back of her mind. That was Mrs. Weston.

Mrs. Weston got to be her first friend since she moved to New York City. She didn't know why the old woman liked her. Maybe the widow was lonely? Or maybe it was because she worked hard and regulated her daily life for her age? Which the old lady had once said to her, although her friends kept telling her to live a little.

The (former) owner of Rusty would also tell her to not worry what others thought of her, or say to her that hard work would pay off just like it did to her last husband. Rachel had lacked maternal love in her life, which didn't mean that her fathers didn't love her enough though. Mrs. Weston was late seventies, but she sometimes felt kind of motherhood from the old woman, such as given her new recipes for dessert, or taught her how to sew (Rachel was good at cooking, but her needlework was terrible).

Such being the case, she pushed the idea of moving out the building into the back of her mind. If she moved out, she wanted to bring words to, not the comatose woman, but the awaken one.

"I love your idea, but–" Rachel opened her mouth.

"I know you're worrying about–"

A ringtone interrupted Finn. He stretched out his arm to take his cell phone from the night table. "Hello?"

"_Is your girl with you right now? The hospital's called her but she doesn't answer."_

Finn grabbed from the same place his girlfriend's cell phone which an external call alert was flashing before handing it out to her. "Is that about Mrs. Weston?"

Rachel took her phone from him, looking at him frowning with a concern.

"_Yeah, she had a stroke in a coma and is in a critical condition right now."_

As soon as he hang up the phone, Finn informed her what he got from Puck, who had received a contact from 10th precinct.

Rachel jumped up from the bed and called back to the hospital while skillfully getting dressed in a rush. "Finn, I need to go to the hospital now."

"I'll go with you.

Finn hurriedly put his clothes on and they rushed into the dark night.

* * *

"Ms. Berry." The gray haired tall man called out from behind, approaching them after Mrs. Weston's personal funeral, which only a few friends of hers, Rachel and Finn attended, in order to explain how the expense of taking care of Rusty and Ms. Bonaparte would be paid.

"Oh, no, no, no." Rachel dismissed with a waving hand. "Rusty technically is mine now, right? So I don't think I need the expense of taking care of him."

"Her last will and testament is very clear upon this point too. She left fine clause about her pets." Mrs. Weston's lawyer insisted. "I don't doubt that she would make a net payment for the term you took care of them if she woke up."

Rachel giggled. "That's _so_ her."

"Yes, indeed." The lawyer agreed.

"Could I waive my right?" Rachel asked.

"It's necessary for you to perform legal formalities, but yes, you could."

"Then would you please go ahead of the procedures?" Rachel saw him nodding. "I will miss her." She condoled, shaking her hand with the gray haired man.

After Mrs. Weston's lawyer left, Rachel noticed a bunch of cornflowers bloomed everywhere around the wire-mesh fences of the cemetery gate. "I don't remember which book says, but I've read that people would die at the season when their favorite flowers bloom." She pointed to the flowers. "Those are Mrs. Weston's favorite. She had Estonian roots and cornflowers are its national flower." She sighed with teary eyes in nostalgia.

"I don't know where Estonia is." Finn said.

Rachel giggled. "It faces towards the gulf of Finland, Finny, one of Baltic States."

"I know. I just wanted to see you smile." He looked down at her and pulled her into him as he dropped his lips on her head.

"Thank you for coming here with me." Rachel looked up at him, smiling widely.

"Why wouldn't I? You know, I was her nephew after all, right?" Finn raised his eyebrow before adding. "Temporarily."

"That's true." Rachel said seriously. "It seems like so long ago." Rachel squinted a little, her gaze sifting into the space.

"Yeah." Finn agreed.

Then they passed by the cemetery gate, Rachel's hand gripping the carrier of Ms. Bonaparte, the other hand in Finn's, his other holding the Rusty's leash, both thinking the respective but same thing in their heads.

* * *

"Who would imagine they were engaging in such a short term?" Tina said, sipping her cocktail, nodding to the couple of the Latina and the blonde dancing around the floor in one of the bars in the Meatpacking District, where Sam tended.

"I know, right?" Rachel agreed. "But I think they are great together." She took her drink from Sam. "Thanks."

"That would mean a complete loss of face for Brody, you know, as a man." Sam mocked.

"I can't agree with you more." Tina giggled.

"Hey, ladies." Puck draped his arms over Rachel's and Tina's shoulders. "Berry, I didn't know you had such a slutty dress." He arched his eyebrow at her violet colored tiered ruffled mini dress. "Of course, animal sweater is not for this time of year."

"It's not slutty–"

Rachel was about to defend, shrugging off his arm, as Kurt chimed in from behind. "I'm offended, or even insulted." Kurt huffed, his arms crossing. "It's Dolce & Gabbana. Sexy, but still classy. Definitely _not_ slutty. I chose it for her. Obviously you know nothing about fashion."

"I don't follow the vagina talk." The Mohawk held his hands up in the air before turning himself towards Sam. "Gimme some manly booze."

"You're such a crude." Kurt snorted before facing the ladies. "So, how's your apartment hunt going? Already found one?" Soon as he got his drink from Sam, they minus Puck walked over towards a standing table.

Rachel groaned. "No, not yet." She let out a sigh. "I didn't think it would be this tough."

"Why don't you take over Mrs. Weston's apartment?" Tina asked. "It meets perfectly your ideal?"

"Floor-plan wise, yes. Or maybe beyond perfect. It's out of our budget." Rachel shook her head.

"Hey, guys." Blaine approached three of them, Finn and Mike in tow, who all respectively greeted their partners with a kiss on their cheeks. "What are you talking about?"

"Rachel's and Finn's apartment." Tina informed. "Even over your budget, I don't think it's a bad idea Mrs. Weston's is on the table."

"Why don't you take a look upstairs of my apartment?" Blaine suggested.

"Oh, no. No thanks." Finn declined quickly. "I don't want to see him every day." He nodded to his step-brother.

"Why does everyone offend me?" Kurt cried out, his fist on his hip.

"I didn't mean it." Finn defended. "Do you want to see me every day? Or do you want to hear us every night?"

"Finn!" Rachel slapped his arm, her face turning red.

"I'm glad you finally joined us." Blaine arched his eyebrow meaningfully as Tina nodded furiously, her significant other just rolling his eyes at her.

"You're all disgusting." Kurt scrunched his nose.

"Like you never get in on in his green room." The Latina exposed from behind them.

They all widened their eyes and turned their faced towards Blaine and Kurt, the latter blushed like a peony, the former burst out laughing seeing his boyfriend's reaction, which made them all laugh (except for Kurt, who glared at his boyfriend).

"Why are you all laughing?" Artie joined, Mercedes, Quinn and Puck in tow.

"Kurt and Blaine have sex in the green room." Brittany informed innocently. "I think they do on Thursdays as far as I know."

"Brittany!" Kurt hissed, still his face blushed.

"TMI, TMI." Puck wrinkled his nose.

Finn agreed with his best friend, nodding, before looking down at his girlfriend and declaring seriously. "I'm not going to pick you up on Thursdays, Rach."

"Enough." Mercedes cut in. "We're here because of celebrating Santana and Brittany, right?" She looked around them with a glare. "No need to embarrass him."

"Thanks, Mer." Kurt let out a sigh.

"But you should tell me the details later." Quinn whispered in Kurt's ear.

"Oookkkkkayyyy." Rachel chimed in. "Let's make a toast." She waited for them all to grab their drinks.

"Wait for it." Sam called out, holding a bottle of champagne in his hand, a waiter bringing glasses in tow. "This is on the house."

After pouring champagne into all the glasses, Rachel held her glass up. "To unexpected, but surprisingly the most beautiful and purest couple, Santana and Brittany."

They all held up their glasses and drank them up before hitting on the floor.

"Rachel." Finn stopped her, pulling her arm gently. "Can I borrow you for a sec?"

"What's wrong?" Rachel frowned.

"Tina's right." Finn started. "Mrs. Weston's apartment should be on the table."

"But–"

"Don't worry about the budget." Finn cut in. For now, he was not going to tell her everything about his thought, which he would propose her in future and for the very reason he didn't mind spending his trust fund to buy the apartment. "Just think about it." He kissed her head.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but just nodded. "Okay." She pulled him into the floor. "Now, let's go dance."

"You know me, my dance sucks." Finn hesitated.

Rachel giggled. "My dance sucks, too." She admitted before squeezing his hand. "You'll be fine. We'll be fine."

As long as they were honest with each other.

**Fin**

* * *

**A/N: Rachel's line "I've read that people would die at the season their favorite flowers bloom," is based on the line from **_**The Setting Sun**_** 'people who like summer flowers die in the summer.'**

**And that's it. Thank you again!**

**Please review :)**


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